COLUMBIA, S.C. — Snow--at time heavy snow--fell across the Midlands Friday night into early Saturday morning, blanketing central South Carolina with some of the highest snow totals since in almost eight years.
The first flakes began around 6:40 p.m. in some areas, including in Winnsboro, where News19 has a reporter. Over the next two hours, the area that started seeing flakes spread.
By 9 p.m. even areas in the City of Columbia were getting snow, with accumulation on railings and bushes, and finally even on roadways and parking lots. For places such as Camden and Winnsboro, there was snow on roads too.
The National Weather Service in Columbia's office--located at Columbia Metropolitan Airport--had one inch of snow before 10 p.m. By midnight, that total had doubled to two inches.
It had been over 2,900 days since that much snow had fallen there, back on February 12, 2014, nearly 8 years ago.
At WLTX studios, we recorded at least two inches, and there was a report of 2.75 inches from the Summit neighborhood in northeast Richland County.
Here are the storm totals we've received so far (in inches):
Camden - 3.0
Lexington - 2.7
Blythewood - 2.5
Irmo - 2.3
Ridgeway - 2.0
Bishopville - 2.0
Little Mountain - 2.0
Winnsboro - 2.0
Forest Acres - 1.5
Sumter - 1.0
While the precipitation ends, the hazards don't. Temperatures aren't expected to go above freezing until at least midday, although the sun will shine.
Download the free WLTX app for the latest weather on your mobile device.
PHOTOS: Winter Weather in South Carolina
A winter storm warning that was in effect for Fairfield, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, Richland, and Sumter counties was allowed to expire expire early Saturday morning.
This was the first winter storm warning the National Weather Service in Columbia has issued since December 2018.
There is now a special weather statement advising people to watch out for ice on the roads.
In the end, the Midlands was on the higher end of the forecast models. As it got later in the day Friday, most of them began inching the projected totals up higher and higher--but shorted them in many areas, particularly in Richland County.
The only area that didn't see much snow was the southern Midlands. Instead, they got mostly ice and sleet, although there were some patches of snow.
Sunshine will return to the Midlands early Saturday morning, but afternoon temperatures will still be cool. Highs Saturday will be in the upper 30s and lower 40s.
