Covington County EMA Director Susan Harris is encouraging local residents to prepare this weekend for the possibility of a wintry mix and hard freeze on Tuesday.

Harris said the National Weather Service is monitoring a strong cold front which will move through the area late Monday night into Tuesday morning, along and behind which is expected a few hours of scattered to numerous patches of precipitation.

“This is a difficult call both in the possibility and areal extent, but there is a potential for cold rain in the wake of the front to change over to light snow or a mix of light sleet/light snow well inland before ending,” the NWS said. “At this time, this looks to be along/north of a line from Waynesboro, Mississippi to near Greenville, Alabama.  Regarding accumulation potential, at this time this looks to be a dusting.

“In addition, it’s possible that lows Tuesday night will drop to around 20 well inland. This would meet gard freeze criteria of 20F.”

The area of concern is roughly along and north of a line from Leakesville, Mississippi to Andalusia, Alabama.