A Winter Weather Climatology for the Southeastern United States
Christopher Fuhrmann and Charles E. Konrad, II
Department of Geography
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
[1]Frozen
precipitation (liquid equivalent) is most abundant along the Appalachian Plateau in southern West Virginia (at least 3.0
inches per year) and southwest Virginia (2.2 to 2.6 inches per year). Annual totals decrease to the south and southeast where the Piedmont of Virginia
and North Carolina experience between 1.0 and 2.0 inches and the coastal plain of the Carolinas generally less than one inch.
[2]Liquid
equivalent snowfall totals follow a similar spatial pattern, with at least 2.0 inches at Beckley, WV, between 0.5 and
1.5 inches in the Piedmont, and negligible amounts along the coastal plain.
[3]Annual
sleet totals are quite low relative to the other precipitation types, although a well-defined maximum exists in
the eastern Piedmont of North Carolina (at least 0.1 inches). Along the windward slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, sleet is so rare that
annual averages approach zero.
[4]In
regards to freezing rain , annual averages of over 0.6 inches occur in the western and central Piedmont of North
Carolina and Virginia and 0.3 inches in the upstate of South Carolina and northeast Georgia. Less than 0.1 inches of freezing rain are observed
in the Tennessee Valley, along the coastal plain, and in central South Carolina.
[5]Cold
rain, like snow, is most frequent in southern West Virginia (4.0 to 4.8 inches per year). More generally, cold rain
is relatively frequent along the windward slopes of the Appalachian Mountains and in the western Piedmont of North Carolina (3.0 to 3.6 inches per year).
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