CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A major winter storm predicted to make its way across the South will largely miss the Albemarle County area, according to experts.

The current forecast calls for the region to receive between a trace of snow to one-half inch. The potential precipitation would begin midday Saturday and continue into Sunday, according to a release from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which is monitoring the weather as it continues to clear roads from last weekend’s major storm.

The impact increases the farther south from the Charlottesville area one goes, and the southern fringe of the area is included in the National Weather Service’s Winter Weather Advisory.

Buckingham County is in the advisory area as well, as far southern Nelson County into Amherst.

Other forecasters think the light snow could arrive sooner.

“A coating to an inch possible (Friday), another coating to an inch possible t(Friday night), and same story as we head through the day Saturday,” Accuweather meteorologist Jason Caterina told WINA Morning News. “So, maybe an inch or two all spread out between today, tonight, and tomorrow.”

The Winter Weather Advisory area from 1 p.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Sunday calls for snow accumulations between 1-3 inches and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

“As you head down from anywhere from Roanoke to points south all the way down to Danville, that’s where the Winter Storm Warning kicks in,” Caterina said. “They could get 4-to-7 inches down a little bit south of us.”

He said as you move further south and east, snow accumulation increase where they could get anywhere from 7-to-12 inches in Virginia Beach with the snow blowing around.

“Even blizzard conditions are possible, with the winds gusting as high as 50-to-60 m.p.h. that could lower visibility down to a-quarter mile,” Caterina said. “That’s the definition of a blizzard, winds greater than 35-m.p.h., visibility down less than a-quarter mile for a period of three hours or more.”

Caterina noted snow does not even have to be falling and that you can have snow on the ground blowing around enough to create the definition of blizzard conditions.

“Traveling south is not advisable as we head through the weekend,” Caterina said.

There is relief in sight.

Caterina said while Sunday, the area just eeks above freezing at 33-degrees, the forecast is reaching 43 degrees both Monday and Tuesday where we’ll get some thawing and melting at long last.