If weather forecasters are correct in calling for a “significant” snow accumulation on Saturday, it will be the first such white Christmas here in 41 years — and only the second one in more than 100 years.
“I think it will start snowing sometime Christmas morning, and I’m calling for 1 to 2 inches,” said Paul Barys, meteorologist at WRCB-Channel 3.
Barys and Tod Hyslop, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn., give the region a 70 percent chance for a real Christmas snowfall. The major question marks, they say, are when and just how much.
“All the models are saying snow,” Barys said. “But they’re diverging in amounts. Some say less than an inch, and some say 3 or 4 inches.”
Mary Tanner, 67, of Ringgold, Ga., said she remembers the 1969 Christmas when more than 5 inches fell in some parts of the region.
“We woke up to snow — a lot of snow. It was so wonderful,” she said. “I had a 2-year-old son and we built a snowman. I remember getting out in a red corduroy outfit I’d sewn myself and getting my picture made on the walk.”
Hyslop said he thinks the snow will develop between midnight Friday and sunrise Saturday.
“But the lion’s share should be coming in on Christmas Day proper between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.,” he said. “And we’ll have flurries on the 26th and 27th.”
Afterward, temperatures will fall enough to keep the white stuff around for several days, he added.
Meteorologist Vaughn Smith in Peachtree City, Ga., said North Georgia residents can expect a winter wonderland, too.
“It will probably get as far south as Columbus and Macon,” Smith said.
Barys doesn’t expect travel problems — at least not on Christmas morning.
“I think it will be a wet snow, and it will continue off and on all day before it tapers off,” he said. “But most of it will melt off the roads because they should be warm.”
But some of the melt could freeze on the roads Saturday night.
Tanner said she watched the television weather forecast Wednesday evening as forecasters talked about Saturday’s expected white Christmas.
“I think it will be really fun,” she said. “I don’t have that red corduroy outfit anymore, but I have a red corduroy jacket. That’ll do.”