N.C. freezes, with possibility of flurries on horizon

Raleigh, N.C. — Southerly winds caused temperatures Saturday to rise just above freezing for the first time in nearly two days. The freezing temperatures returned in the evening and may lead to a small chance of flurries late Sunday.

When the sun rose, low teens blanketed the capital and areas east and south: 12 degrees in Raleigh, 10 degrees in Chapel Hill and 15 degrees in Fayetteville. North and west, single digits dominated: 5 degrees in Roxboro, 7 degrees in Sanford and Southern Pines, and 8 degrees in Burlington.

Keep yourself healthy and protect your pets, plumbing and home during cold weather.

The cold temperatures made numerous pipe freeze and burst. Wake, Durham and Orange county authorities each responded to multiple pipe bursts, mainly in homes or apartments, but said that none of them were major.

As the afternoon began, the Arctic air mass over North Carolina drifted off to the east, allowing warmer winds from the south to flow in. Highs reached 36 degrees in the Triangle.

“Temperatures are really going to have a hard time falling past the mid-20s tonight,” WRAL Meteorologist Nate Johnson said.

It'll be a while before another front brings "a reinforcing surge of cold air" later Sunday, allowing temperatures to warm up a little bit more, WRAL Meteorologist Mike Moss said. Sunday's high is predicted to be around 41 degrees.

A front will usher in moisture before, creating rain showers in the afternoon – and "a slight chance of snow mixing in here and there," Moss said.

"We may end up with a few pockets of snow flurries in the late evening as the precipitation begins to taper off," he continued.