Wintry weather may be on its way to Butler County. In response, Butler County Schools will not be meeting at their normal time on Friday.

Butler County Superintendent Joseph Dean said students will not be getting off early Thursday as was planned.

“We will be having school all day Thursday instead of the planned early release,” Dean said. “Friday, school will be delayed until 10 a.m., which will give us enough time to find out road conditions.”

Dean said he will make a decision early Friday morning as to whether school will resume or remain closed.

Dean also added that the basketball games scheduled for Friday night are still on, but if the roads are impassable, these games will be called off. Administrators will also make this decision Friday morning.

Headmaster of Fort Dale Academy, David Brantley, said he is discussing the matter with officials, but has not made a decision at this time.

Jeffrey M. Medlin, of the National Weather Service science and operation center in Mobile, explained the looming storm in a live webinar this morning.

“We are expecting 3 to 5 inches of snow on Friday,” Medlin said. “We are trying to give as accurate a picture as our cut-edge science allows, but our confidence is increasing.”

Medlin said that a cold front in the Gulf of Mexico is making its way across the lower Southeast. It is expected to collide early Friday morning with artic air blowing down from the North, which could translate to significant snowfall amounts.

“This is not based on one or two model runs,” Medlin said. “It has been repeatedly forecast over the past 48 hours by some of our best weather modeling.”

Bob Luman, of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency, said the NWS is predicting that the snow will have high moisture content. This means, he said, the snow will be weighted down by extra water.

“There aren’t many leaves out still, so hopefully it won’t bring a lot of trees down,” Luman said. “It’s going to be tricky-we could have some power outages.”

The Greenville Advocate will provide more information as it becomes available.