Winter weather moving north along the Grand Strand, ice and snow forecast

Winter weather is headed to the Grand Strand later today, and Georgetown is beginning to see the effects of Winter Storm Grayson.

A radar on WPDE’s website shows the storm inching into Murrells Inlet and Bucksport areas, and is expected to hit Myrtle Beach by mid-morning or early afternoon. Sleet has begun to fall in Georgetown County, according to Jackie Broach, public information officer for the county.

The National Weather Service is predicting ice accumulations of 0.10 to 0.15 inches, as well as 1 to 3 inches of snow and sleet in Horry and Georgetown counties, according to the National Weather Service.

Earlier this week, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Horry and Georgetown counties and surrounding areas, which is effect Wednesday through 6 a.m. Thursday.

At this time Georgetown County officials have not closed any bridges. The South Carolina Department of Transportation did pretreat area bridges to help prevent icing.

“We’re hoping not to” close any bridges, Broach said. “The SCDOT has treated these to the best of their ability.”

An email sent out by Broach early Wednesday said that bridges may be temporarily closed due to clearing accidents and retreatment, but that officials do not plan on any long-term closures.

Both Horry and Georgetown county offices and facilities plan to close at noon Wednesday in preparation for the storm. City of Conway offices are closed all day Wednesday.

Yesterday, officials announced that both Georgetown and Horry county schools would be closed on Wednesday.

In Horry County, officials shifted to an alert status early Wednesday morning, meaning that local authorities started talks with state emergency management teams, weather authorities and other local municipalities to prepare for the storm.

On Tuesday, the South Carolina Department of Transportation pretreated major bridges bridges along primary roads and all of S.C. 31 from U.S. 501 to help against icing. Lauren Ward, with the SCDOT said that for other roads, the department is planning to “wait and see” what the weather brings to the area before they begin treatment.

Santee Cooper is also asking customers to limit the use of large appliances and avoid taking hot showers between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. for the next couple of mornings in order to avoid small outages across the area.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Winter weather moving north along the Grand Strand, ice and snow forecast."