Over the next week California will be catching the waves, in the form of a series of winter storms coming off the Pacific and drenching the West Coast. First lets look at the surface pressures and winds …
… and here is the precipitation accumulation (rain at lower elevations, snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains):
This is a typical El Nino Winter pattern, with moisture being pumped in from a series of storms building up over time to create major flooding. The Pacific moisture flows inland across California dropping as rain, the hits the mountains and is pushed upwards falling as snow.
Speaking of snow, the Appalachian Mountains should get some this weekend … some areas in the Great Smoky Mountains could get several inches!
Closer to home, there is a freeze watch inland:
The finger pointing at Savannah seems to be a graphics glitch, I don’t expect any freezing temps in Chatham County. Note that the ground is still rather warm, so the pipe threat to anything other than long uninsulated runs completely exposed to the air is minimal. Delicate plants are at risk, and of course if you can’t sleep out in it without shelter you probably shouldn’t let your critters do so either. The key variables for freezes are both duration and “depth” (minimum temperature), and neither of these is especially threatening for this episode. Still, expect a freeze warning for much of the area to be issued tomorrow for overnight Saturday/Sunday, as temperatures should dip below freezing inland, and into the upper 30’s even along the coast.