Scarves, gloves, hats and umbrellas should be added to this weekend’s fashions if students are planning on leaving the warmth of homes or residence halls.

“Bundle up,” advised Dalias Price, local weather observer and former Eastern professor.

Snowflakes are likely to fall into this afternoon as the temperature hangs below freezing and Thursday’s precipitation continues, Price said.

Dan Smith, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said Charleston could receive up to an inch of snow by late Friday morning.

The bulk of precipitation should fall north of the Charleston region, Smith said.

Snow could accumulate, Price said, depending on the track of a low pressure system heading into the area. Should the system travel over the region, temperatures in the 30s can be expected to drop into the 20s overnight, he said, which would be conducive to more snowfall.

“After all, we have to remember it is winter time,” Price said.

The season is approaching what he labeled ‘mid-winter’ time when the average daily temperature is typically 32 degrees and fewer.

Until then, we’ll still have some mild days,” Price said.

Temperatures so far this year are slightly above average.

“It is a little warmer than the normal would typically be this week in December,” Price said. “But only a few degrees above.”

Weekend temperatures will be slightly warmer, Smith said. Saturday’s highs are forecast in the low 40s with mostly sunny skies.

Sunday also is expected to be sunny with temperatures in the mid-40s at the warmest time of day.

The National Weather Service Web site shows a forecast of a high near 47 degrees Monday with possible rain. The night time low is forecast at 35 degrees.

Tuesday’s predicted high is 41 degrees with possible rain. Temperatures will fall overnight to a forecasted 29 degrees and the continued precipitation may turn to snow as Wednesday’s high is around 37.

Associate news editor Carly Mullady can be reached at [email protected].