Charleston will see snow, freezing rain and sleet Friday afternoon, making commutes home for the long weekend potentially dangerous.

Everett Lau, WEIU News Watch’s Sky Watch Local Forecaster, said the worst of the weather conditions will start around 3 p.m. on Friday.

“All the precipitation is coming in tomorrow night, so during the day Friday, it’s mostly dry, we’ll start out with snow, so we’re going to get a little bit of everything. Starting out with snow about 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, it’ll start to move in,” Lau said. “And then Friday evening, it’s going to change over to freezing rain and sleet, and so that will lead to ice accumulations Friday evening.”

According to the National Weather Service, the high temperature on Friday will be around 32 degrees, and the low will stick around 31 degrees.

Lau said the worst of the winter weather this weekend will be over by Saturday morning.

“Of any commute this weekend, Friday evening’s going to be the worst because once we get past midnight going into Saturday morning, all the precipitation will change over to rain. So once we get through Friday evening, it gets better because actually Saturday morning, we have temperatures in the mid-40s,” Lau said.

Lau said people traveling home for the long weekend should prioritize leaving as early as they possibly can on Friday because the weather conditions will get worse over time. He said people can also leave Saturday morning if they cannot avoid the hazardous weather conditions on Friday.

“Everything will change over terrain, and that’ll melt the snow or ice that accumulates in the meantime,” Lau said. “Leave really early (Friday) or just wait and maybe leave Saturday morning so that way you avoid the worst of the conditions.”

The high temperature for Saturday will be 47 degrees, and the low will be around 9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Corryn Brock contributed to this article.

Logan Raschke can be reached at 581-2812 or at lrraschke@eiu.edu.