Western Carolinas Prepare for Ice, Snow

[CaptinCrunch]

Western Carolinas Prepare for Ice, Snow
8:30 AM EST, December 4, 2003

Howie Paul Hartnett and Steve Lyttle, Charlotte Observer

Snow and sleet are expected to begin falling in the mountains this morning, then spread through the foothills and down to
Charlotte, making morning commutes messy and school closings possible.
As the day goes on, forecasters say, the precipitation will change to freezing rain and continue until this evening.

As much as three-quarters of an inch of ice is expected to build up on tree
limbs and power lines in the Hickory-Statesville corridor.
"That`s enough to cause a considerable amount of damage and widespread power outages," said Wayne Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Greer, S.C. Still, today`s storm is not expected to be as severe as last December`s ice storm, which left buildups of nearly 1 inch on trees and power lines.

Farther south in the Charlotte-Gastonia area, sleet and freezing rain were
expected to begin around daybreak and continue until changing to rain as
temperatures slowly climb above freezing around noon. Less than a quarter inch of ice is expected in the Charlotte area.
In counties east of Charlotte, only a short period of freezing rain is expected before temperatures rise above 32 degrees.
Winter storm watches and warnings will cover the western Carolinas and all of the Charlotte area except Union, Anson and Stanly counties today.
"As is often the case in winter storms, Mecklenburg is right along the dividing line between frozen precipitation and rain," Jones said.
Areas to the north and west of Charlotte and Gastonia are under a winter storm warning, and Jones said a "significant ice storm is possible there."
The warning area includes Statesville, Hickory and Shelby. A winter storm
watch is in effect for Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston and York counties.
"We issued a watch for those areas because we`re not comfortable saying
there`s absolutely no chance of a damaging ice storm in those areas," Jones said. "There is a possibility." Parents should check media reports to find out if classes will be shortened or canceled.

Forecasts of the season`s first bout of wintry weather sent road crews and
emergency officials throughout the region scrambling to prepare trucks and crews. Duke Power spokeswoman Guynn Savage said utility crews are ready. "We`ve done absolutely everything we can do to be ready," she said. "We`ve made the necessary phone calls and have all our crews ready." Last year`s ice storm Dec. 4-5 knocked out power to more than 2 million business and residential customers.
"That was a storm of historic proportions," Savage said. "We certainly hope not to face anything like that again."
Highway crews in the Carolinas started long before dawn today, spreading salt and spraying brine on area roads in an effort to prevent ice from forming. "We`re ready," Hickory Public Services employee Fred Ellis said. "We`ve got the salt trucks loaded and ready to go."
Morganton Public Works officials placed sand-and-salt spreaders on two of
their trucks. Lenoir fitted spreaders on three of theirs.
Officials also checked their stocks of such mixtures, which help melt ice and improve vehicle traction. "As soon as we get any kind of accumulation, we get moving," said Lenoir City Manager Jim Hipp. "We don`t sit around and watch it snow."

Charlotte road crews were to start spreading salt on 23 routes covering the city`s most heavily traveled roads at 3:30 a.m. today, said Ken Martin, assistant street superintendent in Charlotte.
City and state crews will be using pure salt, rather than a mixture of salt and slag or salt and sand. Although it`s more costly, salt alone will do a better job of keeping roads clear, Martin said.

Interstate 277 has many bridges and is often one of the first highways to
become icy, said Mike Campbell, the state`s assistant district engineer in
Mecklenburg. Another trouble spot: I-77`s interchange with I-485 near the state line. City and state agencies also have added more plows and trucks. They are trying to improve their ice-fighting tactics after many drivers complained about treacherous roads during last winter`s storms.
State workers have 14 trucks ready to spread salt on its roads in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and will spray brine -- a salt-water mix -- overnight on bridges and culverts to prevent icing. They started spraying brine about 8 p.m.

The state has bought brine-making equipment so it will have a larger supply available for busy Mecklenburg roads this winter.
The southeastern states often have some of the country`s toughest road
conditions because winter storms here often start with rain and then turn to ice, said Charlotte street superintendent Layton Lamb.
Although the state is sticking with brine, Lamb said Charlotte crews will try a new technique on bridges and culverts with this storm. Instead of spraying brine that rain would wash away, the city will spread large amounts of salt on bridges and culverts. The rain would then create brine when it mixes with the salt, which might leave more ice-fighting material on the bridges.

State road workers in Lincoln County said morning crews will be on standby, and 12 trucks will be poised to spread salt.
Areas predicted to get less precipitation, such as Gaston and Union counties, were taking more of a wait-and-see approach.
"Right now we`re just monitoring it. But you never know," Gaston deputy fire marshal Tommy Almond said. "One or two degrees can make a world of difference."

[jpp5862]

I read that this morning too. However the frozen precip in Charlotte never materialized, it has been 33 and 34 all morning with light rain off and on.

On the whole I don't think there is quite the amount of precipitation they expected, we have had several breaks in the rain, it has been dry more than it has been raining, plus the temperature never dropped below freezing like expected.

I'm not sure what is going on north and west of here, from looking at the radar it doesn't look like a lot of precip has fallen, but I'm bet what they are getting is frozen.

Anyone from western NC have any details on what you are getting?

[HeartofNC]

Nothin' in Raleigh - to your East - some sleet this early AM, but that's it!

[SunDog]

[quote="jpp5862"]
Anyone from western NC have any details on what you are getting?[/quote]

All snow here in Asheville. It did change to rain around 7am, but it is so light that you can barely even tell its falling.

All and all we got around 2.5 inches of snow.
Hit and miss showers now with a temp of 31 in downtown.

[Stormsfury]

Even the western portions of North Carolina, although, still cold enough for frozen/freezing precip, got nowhere near the amounts of precip that was expected with the ETA horribly busting on QPF outputs (which is typical of that model) ...

2 things happened ...

1) Thunderstorms developed along the Gulf Coast region last night and a coastal trough along the Carolina Coast, both served as focusing mechanisms for enhanced QPF's across those regions ... thus robbing the moisture from moving further north even with good isentropic lift ...

2) Subsequentially, with the transferrance of energy (a little bit like a Miller B Low type scenario), generally there are sharp cutoffs in the moisture (hence, a dry slot punching through) ... and this looks to be the case with this system ...

SF

[Dan]

Sorry for not keeping you guys updated on what's going on here in Western North Carolina.

As SF said, low pressure developed off Charleston and robbed most of interior North Carolina of the moisture needed for a significant winter storm. But, reguardless most areas in the foothills got about a 1/2 inch to 1 inch of snow/sleet, mostly snow actually. The High Country fared better getting from 4-8 inches. As of now, most areas have changed over to a sleet/freezing rain mixture, but the precip is light. We dodged a major bullet with part 1 of this storm.

Now, storm 2...that's gonna be interesting one to watch. Yesterday, the models gave North Carolina a good snow event from Storm 2, even those areas east of the mountains. Since then, the models have backed off and goes with the typical NW flow snows. Now, that storm 1 ended up a bust, it would be par for the course if storm 2 pulled a suprise on North Carolina friday night and early Saturday.

Looking ahead, one has to wonder if there may be some runoff problems in the mid-atlantic next week? The medium range models wants to send a storm west of the Appalachians and wants to open the Gulf of Mexico, bringing a healthy amount of rain in an area with could have some snow cover? Something we'll have to watch over the weekend.

[jpp5862]

I wouldn't mind a good snow late Friday/Saturday. Especially since this one was a bust, although if we're going to miss one of them, I'd rather miss the ice and sleet.

Thanks for the updates guys.

[PTrackerLA]

Sorry to hear it was a bust but at least there are no major icing problems and there's still a chnce of snow for y'all this weekend.

[jpp5862]

Stormsfury, what are you thinking for the second low coming through late tomorrow night/Saturday?