Icy U.S. winter storm moves north
Motorists slide over black ice on roads while utility crews restore power for thousands
ATLANTA— A pre-winter storm that roared through the Deep South and coated half of North Carolina and portions of Virginia in snow pushed northward on Saturday, leaving motorists to brave potentially icy roads and utility crews trying to restore heat and light to thousands.
Forecasters were warning that the slush created during daylight would turn to ice from temperatures dropping below freezing, creating black ice on roads, bridges and other elevated surfaces.
“That catches people more off guard than when you see snow,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Moneypenny of the Raleigh, NC. office.
Before Friday, the forecast for North Carolina called for little more than an inch of snow for the central counties with more expected for the higher elevations. The frigid temperatures behind a cold front combined with moisture off the Gulf of Mexico to bring the unusual wintry weather to parts of the South.
By Saturday, Burnsville had reported 35 centimetres of snow. The Hendersonville area had 30 centimetres and Asheville recorded 20 centimetres of snow. Across the South, preliminary reports to the National Weather Service showed up to 25 centimetres of snowfall in northwest Georgia, with 18 centimetres of accumulation in parts of metro Atlanta. Another 25 centimetres of snow was reported in Anniston, Ala., while up to 18 centimetres were reported in Mississippi. Rare flurries were even reported in New Orleans.
“It’s very, very abnormal and rare that we would get totals like that this time of year,” said Sid King, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in the Atlanta area. “It’s really not even winter yet. I would not be surprised if we broke a lot of records.”
By Saturday evening, Duke Energy was reporting 22,340 customers without power in North Carolina, down from more than 39,000 earlier in the day.
Awinter storm warning was settled to expire for parts of Virginia. Richmond had eight centimetres of snow, as did Prince Edward. Virginia State police blamed hundreds of crashes on icy weather.