The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore isn't coming to Nashville to cover severe weather

UPDATE: Meteorologist Jim Cantore will not be in Nashville on Friday. Cantore tweeted Thursday afternoon that he will be in Indianapolis instead. Meteorologist Maria LaRosa will be coming to cover the severe weather.

The nation's most popular weather man is slated to visit Music City Friday to cover the season's first spurt of severe weather as a winter storm continues to move east across the country.

Jim Cantore, an American meteorologist best known as an on-air personality for The Weather Channel, plans to visit Nashville to broadcast live coverage of the storm that is expected to hit the local region through Saturday.

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Snow, couple with freezing ice, is expected to spread east from the Ohio Valley to the Tennessee Valley on Friday then into the Great Lakes due to the storm, which the NWS is calling Winter Storm Hunter.

Near-blizzard conditions are possible in parts of the country, according to the NWS.

A winter storm watch issued by the National Weather Service in effect for Western and Middle Tennessee with freezing rain and snow expected to hit the Nashville-area Friday. A winter weather advisory is also effect across central and eastern portions of Middle Tennessee from Friday morning through Friday night.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.