Impacts from a dangerous winter storm will arrive in central North Carolina after sunset on Saturday.
Central North Carolina is under a winter storm warning for Saturday and Sunday, when widespread freezing rain is expected to break tree branches and power lines, causing power outages.
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- Sunday: Sleet early in the morning. Mainly freezing rain from daybreak onward. You may see a lull in the action during the afternoon, as energy gets passed off to a new system off the coast. (This is fairly typical of N.C. winter storms). Then, one last push of freezing rain and rain takes us into Monday morning.
- Monday: This is going to be a windy day. There will be sun. We will get above freezing, but the wind will make it tough on power lines, power crews and trees that have had ice on them.
- Tuesday: This is when the bitter cold settles in. Could see wind chills in the single digits early in the morning.
Freezing rain for the weekend
We've seen a mix of sleet and even snow Saturday evening into the pre-dawn hours of Sunday. Toward daybreak and points after, we'll see freezing rain mix in. Then, there should be a general lull in the activity during the afternoon.
Power outages will be possible in areas that see more than 0.25" of ice throughout the day Sunday. That's especially the case after one final push of potentially heavy freezing rain after 5 or 6 p.m.
"This final band should be freezing rain from Raleigh west, but may just be plain rain in our eastern counties as warm air nudges inland," Campbell said.
No melting: Bitter cold will hamper storm cleanup
That "warm air" is only relative, as the temperature hovers near the freezing mark throughout the day Monday.
On Monday and Tuesday, poor road conditions are expected to linger and temperatures stay below freezing. Both days are WRAL Weather Alert Days because of the danger of the combination when accrued power outages combine with a series of freezing days and nights.
"Wind chill values could range from around -7 degrees to 5 degrees across the area which would put us in the extreme cold watch or warning criteria," WRAL meteorologist Grant Skinner said.
That could especially be dangerous for those who lose power. If you do lose power, you'll want extra blankets. Stay in close quarters to each other. DO NOT bring a grill or a generator inside, as that increases the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Another shot of bitter, Arctic cold is in the forecast later in the week, too.
Totals and impact
A quarter-of-an-inch to half-an-inch or more of freezing rain is possible from the Triangle northward throughout the storm.
Layers of ice can weigh down power lines. As little as 1/4 inch of ice is enough to bring down power lines and cause outages in a winter storm. Falling branches can also land on lines, causing power disruption.
"This storm has the potential of generating both of those," said Jeff Brooks, a spokesman for Duke Energy.
Campbell urges people to be mindful that it takes just 1/10 of an inch of freezing rain to cause a glaze on trees, bridges to become slick and windshields to get coated.
“Half an inch of freezing rain, though, and that's what's in the forecast in Wake County is a major ice storm. Travel becomes impossible and widespread power outages become possible as well,” Campbell said.
Any accumulation will depend on how much liquid we have. In short, be prepared to stay home at least through the weekend. Should the trend for more ice continue, we'll be looking at more power outages too.
However, we are seeing a trend of some non-freezing rain appearing in our runs of Futurecast. While we'll still seeing freezing rain for much of the area, some areas further south are showing a potential chance for non-freezing rain.
Schools and organizations have began planning ahead and cancelling classes and operations due to the impacts come Monday.
Both the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University have cancelled classes for Monday. Wake Tech Community College and Johnston Community College are also closed on Monday.
Keep updated with all closings and delays due to weather.
We know that Wake County Public School System has a teacher work day scheduled for Jan. 26 for students on a traditional calendar. Students on Tracks 1, 2 and 4 are scheduled to have school that day. Students on Track 3 are scheduled to be tracked out (off) beginning on Monday.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools also has a teacher workday on the calendar for Monday. Moore County Schools will opperate on remote learning Monday.
Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston and Orange county schools are scheduled to be in session.
What you can do to prepare
Prepare now: Road crews, power companies get ready for icy storm. Here's what you can do
First, choose a trusted source for your news and don't panic.
"You may be seeing on your phone some crazy numbers, amounts of snow, that sort of thing," Gardner said.
You can have confidence in the WRAL Weather app. That is the forecast prepared by the WRAL Severe Weather Center, and we're not going to share anything with you that we don't feel confident in.
Consider changing weekend plans if you were expecting to be on the road. Whatever falls may stick around for quite some time because it stays really cold.
Prepare for power outages. That could mean stocking up on batteries for flashlights, wood if you have a fireplace and filling your gas tank.
And identify a way to stay in touch -- with family, friends and your school or business.
