NC Gov. Josh Stein urges caution, hopes families stay warm and kids play in snow

Gov. Josh Stein urged North Carolinians to stay cautious on the roads and in the cold, calling the storm “no joke,” while also saying he hoped many kids across the state took time to safely enjoy the rare snowfall.

“Today is a special day for North Carolina, because we just don’t get snow like this very often,” Stein said Sunday during a virtual winter storm update.

“We had 16 inches of snow in Lexington, 15 inches in Ocean Isle. All 100 counties experienced snow, much of it in the east,” he said. “So wherever you’re watching this today, I hope you’re warm and safe, and I hope that your kids and grandkids are outside playing.”

Snow totals varied widely across the state — with the Triangle seeing some of the lowest accumulations — while some areas recorded a foot of snow or more. All 100 counties saw at least some snowfall, and frigid temperatures continued to affect conditions statewide.

Stay off the roads

Stein said his key message was for people to stay off the roads so crews and law enforcement can work, noting that the state’s department of transportation had about 2,500 workers on overtime Sunday to clear as much snow as possible.

But with temperatures remaining below freezing Sunday and through much of Monday, he warned that many roads could remain in poor condition for days. Black ice — a thin, nearly invisible layer of ice that causes thousands of crashes nationwide each year — remains a concern.

There were more than 1,000 traffic collisions statewide over the weekend, including two fatalities, as well as a major traffic jam involving more than 100 vehicles on Interstate 85 in Kannapolis, Stein said. That backup was cleared in less than three hours by the State Highway Patrol and the North Carolina National Guard, Stein said.

Parts of N.C. 12 were closed because of ocean overwash, and with heavy winds and high tides, it could take time to reopen, Stein said.

Christopher Knox, a public information officer with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, confirmed that from Jan. 31 through 11 a.m. Feb. 1, troopers responded to 1,112 collisions and 1,686 calls for service.

Knox said the department is still working through its process to determine how many of those incidents were related to winter weather.

One of the collisions that led to a death occurred Saturday evening in Rutherford County, after a driver failed to see a motor grader operated by a contract snow removal company that was traveling partially in the right lane.

The other fatal collision occurred early Sunday morning in Robeson County, after a single vehicle traveling southbound on Interstate 95 near the 23-mile marker, overturned and became submerged in a ditch, according to Knox.

North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson added, “There are significantly more vehicles on the roads this weekend compared to last. Because of that, we’ve seen several roadway incidents across the state that were completely preventable.”

Johnson said the “cold, dry snow” is easier to clear than the ice the state experienced last weekend but while “we’re throwing everything we have at this. It’ll take days, even in the least impacted areas, to clear roads.”

Some areas could be waiting up to a week before secondary roads are cleared, he said.

Electric grid concerns

Beyond driving conditions, Stein said extreme cold — especially in Western North Carolina — is another concern.

Subfreezing temperatures could increase strain on the electrical grid Monday morning. He urged people to watch for signs of frostbite and to conserve electricity by turning off lights and avoiding major appliances.

The temperatures — 10 to 20 degrees below normal — are driving unusually high energy demand across the East Coast, including the Carolinas, said Duke Energy in a press release Monday.

The utility called on customers across the Carolinas to voluntarily reduce energy use between 4 and 10 a.m. to lessen strain on the grid and reduce the potential for temporary power outages.

Don Campbell, chief of staff for North Carolina Emergency Management, said that as of Sunday morning there were approximately 10,500 power outages reported statewide, though there were limited reports so far of downed power lines.

This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 12:57 PM.

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

The News & Observer

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi is a politics reporter for the News & Observer. She reports on health care, including mental health and Medicaid expansion, hurricane recovery efforts and lobbying. Luciana previously worked as a Roy W. Howard Fellow at Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization.