Occasionally, forecasting our weather is pretty straight-forward. Today isn't one of those times.
A complex storm system is moving into the region, and we will have good precipitation chances from today through tonight, ending Sunday morning.
Let me break this down by areas....
Mountain areas; Avery, Watauga, Ashe counties....
Snow and sleet through a good portion of the day. Snow could easily accumulate to several inches. Then by late afternoon and evening, as temperatures aloft warm, freezing rain will likely be the primary precipitation type. I am concerned that comes areas receiving a significant ice load, and I think it's quite possible some areas could receive at least 0.25 inches to 0.5 inches of ice on top of the snow. If that were to occur, some power outages would be likely.
Foothill areas..... Surry, Wilkes, Caldwell, Alexander, higher Burke elevations....
Snow and sleet today, and then many areas will attempt to change over to rain. However, some of the colder spots could hold on to wintry precip for a lot of the event, so a slushy accumulation of snow and sleet is definitely a good possibility. Limiting factors are a late March sun angle and mild ground temperatures, but at least a slushy inch or two are possible, especially on grassy and elevated surfaces.
Triad area....
Really tough forecast. Certainly some intervals of snow are likely to be involved, but there might be enough rain that it really limits any significant accumulation potential. There's a chance of some minor accumulations, and if the atmosphere were to be slightly colder than forecast, more snow could be involved. No doubt this is my lowest-confidence region of the forecast.
Charlotte metro....
This area should be mostly rain. There could be some token sleet pellets or snow flakes involved, but I don't expect any accumulations at this time. North and west of town, up into Iredell, Lincoln, and over to Cleveland and Rutherford counties, some minor accumulations are possible.
As always, some forecast alterations are possible. But this is the idea as of now.