The burning car is back! Snow, the South, and a social media wit storm | News & Observer

Social media well documented Winter Storm Grayson as it churned up the Southeast coast Wednesday evening and early Thursday.

Grayson, like other storms this winter, was named based on popular baby names by The Weather Channel and weather.com.

The hurricane-like bomb cyclone prompted plenty of jabs at how Southerners react to snow and wintry forecasts.

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Some jumped at the chance to remind the world how Raleigh handled similar weather events in recent years.

Some meteorologists locked themselves out of the National Weather Service Raleigh forecast office, but managed to use a snowball to get back in.

In Greenville, police said a pair of suspects in Wednesday night vehicle break-ins forgot to consider they’d leave footprints in the snow.

“#gotem #cantmakethisstuffup #dynamicduo #footprintsinthesnow,” the police department wrote on Facebook.

Charleston looked like something out of a Thomas Kinkade painting.

Chapel Hill had a picturesque scene of its own.

Grayson was powerful enough to shut down the largest military installation in the United States early Thursday morning.

Grayson sparked a snowman-making contest with the 82nd Airborne Division’s paratroopers around the world. With no snow available, a “sandbag snowman” emerged from Afghanistan.

“If you are able to safely do so, please build a snowman, put your beret on its head, and post a picture of it,” the 82nd Airborne posted on its Facebook page. “We need a new All American snowman pic. If you really want to be creative, carve an ‘AA’ patch into it.”

Outer Banks photographer Rick Anderson reported near-hurricane wind gusts and lightning in Kill Devil Hills.

Just down the road, Sam Walker with The Outer Banks Voice reported high surf breaking on the Nags Head Pier, coating it with ice.