Winter weather advisory extended through Saturday in Myrtle Beach area

The threat of winter weather has been extended through Saturday for portions of Horry County.

Steve Pfaff, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C., issued a release Friday morning warning that freezing rain continued to be a possibility throughout the afternoon, and that a wintry mix was possible through Saturday evening.

Although only a trace amount of ice could occur in the affected regions, it is expected to cause dangerous driving conditions along roadways, especially on bridges and overpasses.

Pfaff warns there could be scattered power outages as well.

“Areas that receive freezing rain will experience hazardous driving conditions. The ground is already cold from the recent arctic air-mass, and rain would quickly freeze to road surfaces, especially bridges and overpasses. Isolated power issues are possible, especially where the heaviest accretion of ice occurs,” Pfaff said in a weather brief.

The advisories for the area come as much of the Northeast is under a winter storm warning that could produce up to 16 inches of snow in some areas.

Advisory areas locally include: portions of inland Horry, Darlington, Florence, Dillon, Marlboro, Columbus, N.C., Robeson, N.C., Bladen, N.C., and inland Pender, N.C. counties, according to officials.

Rainfall amounts during the storm will be about an inch to two inches in some areas, and flooding is possible in low-lying and flood-prone areas.

“We’re currently monitoring conditions and keeping in contact with the National Weather Service in Wilmington,” Brooke Holden with Horry County Emergency Management said.

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Winter weather advisory extended through Saturday in Myrtle Beach area."