Chapel Hill crews will be working throughout the day to help get the town back closer to normal after several inches of snow fell Wednesday.

The latest winter storm left dangerous driving conditions across Orange County as a whole.

Chapel Hill Emergency Management Coordinator Barry McLamb told WCHL Thursday morning that there were no new crashes reported overnight as residents heeded warnings to stay off the road. But he said that warning will be in place throughout Thursday as well, even as temperatures warm above freezing later in the day.

“We’re not going to make a lot of progress really until [Friday], when we get some substantial warming,” McLamb said. “But the weather is still going to be really cold overnight for the next few nights. So, we’re going to be in this cycle of melting and refreezing overnight that’s going to create dangerous conditions every morning.”

McLamb said crews would be out Thursday hoping to “get to as many roads to plow as they can, salt and sand, and try to get the roads back into some kind of ability for folks to get around because right now it’s almost impassable still.

“We’re again urging people to stay off the roads.”

McLamb cautioned potential motorists against becoming overconfident on major thoroughfares that look as though they are clear.

“They’ve been plowed, so they’re clear,” McLamb said. “But right now they’re extremely icy. It’s almost worse to try to drive on them right now than if they had snow packed on them.”

McLamb said icy conditions had caused conditions to be dangerous for pedestrians as well.

Crews from local fire departments were dispatched to a fire in Chapel Hill on Thursday when a vacant public housing unit went up in flames. A firefighter was transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

A State of Emergency has been declared by Orange County during the aftermath of the winter storm.

Approximately 12 inches of snow fell in some parts of Orange County, which has led to many closings and delays.

Photo via Town of Chapel Hill

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