Triangle awaits snow, sub-freezing temperatures

With new sleds and bags of rock salt and ample provisions of bread, milk and other groceries, the Triangle hunkered down for its first winter storm of the season this weekend.

Cold rain and sleet began falling Friday afternoon, and was expected to turn to snow overnight. The National Weather Service said 4 to 8 inches were possible in the Triangle, where a winter storm warning remains in effect until 7 p.m. Saturday.

The snow will have stopped by then, pushed out by a blast of Arctic air that will keep temperatures below freezing until Tuesday and make clearing the roads of ice and snow difficult. Temperatures will dip into the low teens Sunday morning, but the coldest time will be Monday morning, when thermometers will read single digits.

Forecasters had been predicting the storm all week, so few were caught off guard. Several school districts and local governments closed early Friday so people could get home before anything started falling.

Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for the entire state. The storm forced the postponement of most of Cooper’s inauguration festivities, and the inaugural ball scheduled for Saturday was held a night early. Cooper urged people to stay off highways during and after the snowstorm.

“It’s good that we aren’t looking at a commuting day Saturday,” Cooper said.

Some forecast models call for up to a foot of snow in the Triangle, said Shawna Cokley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Raleigh.

Cokley said snowfall totals will be lower south and east of the Triangle, because temperatures will be slightly warmer, producing sleet or rain instead of snow.

“There’s that gradient of snow as you move from south to north, and as you move inland,” she said.

Cold days and nights

Public schools in the Triangle generally remain closed until secondary roads are clear of ice and snow, and that’s not likely until the middle of next week. Forecasters say temperatures won’t get back above freezing until Tuesday, and highs are expected to reach the 50s on Wednesday.

Because of the icy temperatures, Cokley warned that Monday’s commute could be dicey and drivers should exercise extreme caution.

“We do have a danger of black ice forming, especially Saturday,” Cokley said. “Everything that melts or compacts a little bit will refreeze with those low temperatures.”

The DOT’s snow and ice clearing equipment will be busy all weekend, as 3,200 employees use the department’s fleet of about 1,900 vehicles to clear roads, said the DOT’s acting secretary Mike Holder.

DOT equipment operators had most of Friday off as they rested up for what was sure to be a busy weekend and plows would begin rolling when snow reached depths of between 1.5 and 2 inches, Holder said.

The department also will have between 500 and 600 contractors across the state, and will be able to put them to work quickly because of Cooper’s state of emergency declaration, Holder said.

DOT and the State Highway Patrol reminded motorists to not leave their vehicles abandoned on the shoulders, where they get in the way of snow plows and salt trucks. Under the state of emergency, the Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies will arrange for towing companies to move vehicles left on the shoulder to a safe place.

This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 7:41 AM with the headline "Triangle awaits snow, sub-freezing temperatures."