Norman could accumulate up to seven inches of snow by Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service's Web site.

Thunderstorms will most likely occur Friday evening, lasting into the night, and the temperature will begin to fall quickly, said Patrick Marsh, a meteorology Ph.D. student said. Snowfall should begin overnight Friday and could last until Saturday afternoon, he said.

Marsh said while there is uncertainty on how much snow will fall on the state, weather models are in uniform agreement that there will be heavy snow in central Oklahoma. The snow will most likely end during the overnight hours Saturday, but there's still a potential for snowfall Sunday morning, he said.

How much snow accumulates depends on the ground temperatures, which are currently in the low 50s, Marsh said. If it only takes a few hours for snow to accumulate, central Oklahoma could see up to a foot of snow, he said. This storm also has the potential for high winds, which could create a storm similar to the one on Christmas Eve, Marsh said.

While Oklahoma's heaviest snow falls usually occur during March, it doesn't happen often enough to allow forecasters to give accurate predictions of what could happen this weekend, Marsh said.

"It should be interesting to see how it plays out," he said. "[We're] 4 1/2 inches away from breaking the all time Oklahoma City snow record for a season, so that in and of itself means for uncharted territories."

But the bottom line is the potential exists for a significant snowstorm to occur, Marsh said.

"Travel should be discouraged; if there's heavy snow and it's blowing, then you definitely don't want to be out on the road," he said.

The daily snowfall record for Oklahoma was set March 27 in the panhandle, Marsh said.

"That just goes to show snow in March at this magnitude, while it doesn't happen every year, isn't abnormal," he said. "It's just the joy of living in Oklahoma."