Chance of snow dusting Thursday
An arctic cold front will bring the potential for light snow across central North Carolina Thursday evening.
Posted — UpdatedThursday will be partly sunny with highs in the lower 40s. In the late evening, temperatures will drop to the upper 20s with snow likely.
"This is not the kind of event you need to go out and buy bread and milk for. It is just a light snow dusting," WRAL meteorologist Mike Maze said.
Maze said the snow would stretch throughout the WRAL viewing area, bringing up to 1½ inches in some places.
The Triangle can expect a dusting of 1 to 1½ inches of snow to fall overnight Thursday, Maze said. Areas south of the Triangle would see a lighter dusting.
"The system is so moisture starved that if it was just rain, it would be about a tenth of an inch of rain. So we are not talking about a great deal of snow," Maze said.
The snow should be over by 6 a.m. Friday. However, with the ground being already cold, the snow could cause problems for morning commuters.
State Department of Transportation crews are treating roads in Wake, Durham, Franklin, Warren Granville and Person counties with a brine solution as a precaution.
The Highway Patrol offered this advice for drivers navigating snowy roads.
- Clear your vehicle's windows and mirrors.
- Reduce your speed. Driving at the regular speed limit will reduce your ability to control the car if you begin to slide.
- Leave plenty of room between you and other vehicles.
- Bridges and overpasses accumulate ice first. Approach them with extreme caution, and do not apply your brakes while on the bridge.
- If you do begin to slide, take your foot off the gas, and turn the steering wheel in the direction of the slide. Do not apply the brakes as that will cause further loss of control of the car.
- Come to a complete stop or yield the right-of-way at intersections where traffic lights are out. Treat this situation as a four-way stop.
- If you have a cellular phone, take it with you. You can call the Highway Patrol statewide by dialing *HP (*47) or call the local county emergency center by dialing 911.
Friday will be partly sunny with highs in the mid 30s. The evening will be mostly clear and cold, with lows in the teens.
Saturday and Sunday will be mostly clear with highs in the lower 30s and lows 15 to 20.
WRAL chief meteorologist Greg Fishel said temperatures should start moving back toward the normal high for this year – about 50 degrees – by the middle of next week.
Because strawberries grow low to the ground, they can weather the cold better than many crops.
At Buckwheat Farm in Apex, owner Karma Lee has decided not to cover her strawberry plants in preparation of the snowfall.
“If the daytime temperature is 18 degrees for a high, and stays that way for two or three days in a row, then we would be concerned about damage to the crown of the plant. Then we would be out there covering them up,” Lee explained.
Lee said wintry precipitation this time of the year doesn't concern her as the plants are dormant.
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