(The Center Square) – Measurable snow in all 100 counties over the weekend was the first time since January 2014, the Climate Office at N.C. State University says.
Four deaths between Friday and Monday are linked to the storm, including an 18-year-old from Concord that went missing Saturday and was found Monday covered in snow. She died of exposure.
Accumulations were more than a foot in the higher elevations of the mountains, in a stretch of the Interstate 85 corridor between Charlotte and the Triad, in the Coastal Plains, and along a stretch of the southern border to South Carolina near the Atlantic Ocean.
The 1-2 inches total in the Triangle was lower than anywhere. The smallest amount along the roughly 320 miles of ocean shoreline was 2 inches, and most got 4 or more, including 15 recorded at the National Weather Service office in Morehead City and Newport.
The state’s three largest airports in Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Greensboro lost 2,397 flights Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Schools, both K-12 and higher education, adjusted schedules from Saturday into Tuesday, with a mix of cancellations and remote work.
Power outages were much less than the previous weekend’s freezing rain and ice storm. The worst was Saturday night when more than 10,000 were out. By contrast, the previous weekend’s peak outage was an estimated 36,000 to 42,000 customers.
In a release Monday, state Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson said, “Our crews worked hard to clear most interstates yesterday and are now working on other major and two-lane roads today, but we anticipate the hardest-hit areas will continue to see impacts to the roads in the days to come. Please be patient and give our crews space to work. Conditions vary across the state. We encourage people to avoid driving where snow and ice still cover the roads and to exercise caution and reduce speed when driving.”
Will Ray, director of North Carolina Emergency Management, said freezing pipes in homes remain a threat.
“There are many people in our communities that are especially vulnerable to prolonged cold temperatures, so please check on your friends, family, and neighbors,” he said.
The State Highway Patrol reported more than 1,100 collisions, including fatalities in Robeson and Rutherford counties. A Madison County 76-year-old was killed Saturday in a side-by-side utility vehicle crash.
Since the outset of the storm on Saturday, state Department of Transportation crews and contractors for the state have put out 23,000 tons of salt and plowed roads by the thousands of miles. Nationwide, road salt and antiicing and deicing supplies are limited.
Cancellations in and out of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport were 1,090 Saturday, 859 Sunday, and 106 on Monday. For Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the cancellations were 178 Saturday, 79 Sunday and three on Monday. For Piedmont Triad International Airport, cancellations were 55 Saturday, 26 Sunday and one Monday.
Interstate 85 reopened late Saturday night after more than five hours with 100-plus vehicles stranded. In the northbound lanes of I-85 in Cabarrus County between mile markers 60 and 63, a small crash near Exit 60 for Dale Earnhardt Boulevard grew to snarl more than 30 tractor-trailers and 70 other vehicles. The National Guard was among the responders, according to published reports.
A low-pressure system parallel and making its way up the Atlantic Seaboard brought heavier snow to the eastern part of the state Saturday. Bands spinning off the low pressure dictated accumulation amounts.
Jim Cantore, the heralded veteran meteorologist and fellow of the American Meteorological Society often reporting from the ground zero of storms, was in Duck at the Outer Banks. His report Sunday morning said the Arctic air anchoring into America “for the better part of last month is going to be lifting out. Our anomalously deep ridge/trough will finally break. We will still get a couple clippers and cool with them, but the relentless Arctic should subside.”
Cantore also said, “Temperatures won’t dip like they have and frozen areas in the South will get to thaw over the next 10 days between clippers.”
There was a point Saturday when temperatures were colder in Florida (high teens, low 20s) than in southeastern Alaska (33 to 41 degrees). Snow was reported in multiple Florida locations Saturday.
Costs for taxpayers associated with the two weekends of storms will be significant, although some of the expense has been built into the state budget. While there is no state budget that was due July 1, North Carolina law dictates that the most previous spending plan be utilized.
Taxpayers through General Assembly appropriations supply about $60 million annually for winter storms to be handled by the state Department of Transportation. The cost of brine treatments on roads is about $6 per mile; salt is $15 per mile.
An emergency was declared by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on the state level and second-term Republican President Donald Trump on the federal level.
The declaration by Trump unlocks federal taxpayer dollars for things like deployment of additional generators to hospitals and shelters; emergency food, water and fuel; and support from the U.S. Forest Service to remove downed trees as needed. Stein’s declaration sets up proactive response by the National Guard, lawmen, and search and rescue teams; enables protective measures and consumer protection; enables authorities to implement curfews or area access restrictions; and enables government entities to seek state funding for recovery efforts.
The state price gouging law also remains in effect, said first-term Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson. It is automatic with Stein’s declaration.
Taxpayers’ protection by the price gouging law includes no excessive charges during a crisis, such as inflated costs for a generator or other everyday goods and services. Prices can be adjusted for impact of critical events on their operations, but not to boost profits.
