Winter treks?

Hey all! I'm a student and I was currious about the possabilities of doing a winter AT trip are? I'm concidering leaving from Georga as early as December 20th and have to be done NO LATER than June 15th. The reason why I have to be back by that time is because I have to be at Officer Canidate School for the USMC on July 6th. I honostly don't know what the weather is like down in the south that time of year... The earliest hiking on the AT in the year that I've done was the Jersey section over the March spring break 2 years ago which was fine, but I don't know if all years will be like that. If need be I can jump over a 200 mile section consisting of NJ and part of NY and PA being that I have already done those sections. So what is the feasability for doing such a trip? As of date the biggest winter hiking trip that I've done was to Mount Marcy in NY for a day trip. I've also hit numerous other lesser peaks in the daks and have a bit of winter camping experience, but again no overnight winter hiking trips.

So what kindof weather should I expect?
If I go should I be planning on having snow shoes on till March?
Is this trip doable?
Will there be other through hikers on the trail this time of year?
Anyone want to go with me? =)

Joe

You are sure to encounter snow and ice at elevation in the winter in the South. You'll also may run into significant snow and/or ice again in the Presidentials depending on when you reach New Hampshire. I'd guess that crampons would do the trick and you wouldn't need snowshoes, but more reliable info can be found at:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=56
http://www.trailforums.com/index.cfm
http://trailplace.com/

Be sure to check out the trail journals at trail forums, if you can find a trip that started in the winter, it will probably be really helpful.