UPDATE: As of Thursday night, the National Weather Service is forecasting more sleet than snow in the Orange County region. Friday’s forecast continues to be wide-ranging and shifting.
As a result of the winter weather advisory, local school districts moved to remote learning on Friday. Other local services, like transportation and dialysis treatment, are either delayed or closed.
The Triangle region will be under a winter weather advisory beginning Thursday afternoon, as residents gear up for another winter storm.
But with the system now tracking further east, forecasters say they no longer expect significant snow accumulation in Orange, Chatham, Durham and Wake counties.
“We’re looking at two different potential winter weather events,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Danco. “The first occurs this evening… it’s going to be raining in the afternoon and early evening, and then we’re expecting a changeover to sleet and snow in the evening and overnight hours.”
Danco says he expects that event to produce a small amount of freezing rain, then about one to two inches of snow.
Danco says the second round of snow will occur “late Friday afternoon into Friday evening.” But the meteorologist added the heaviest precipitation from the system should fall east of Interstate 95, leaving the Triangle with only a small amount of additional snow.
“Our confidence is still not high” for Friday’s forecast, Danco says, since forecasting models are continuing to shift.
All told, though, Danco says he expects Orange County to receive a total of one to two inches of snow, most of which will fall before Friday morning.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the Triangle, beginning on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. and continuing until Saturday at 4:00 a.m. Even with the revised forecast, meteorologists say this system could produce the largest snowfall the Triangle has seen in three years. It comes just a few days after light snowfall and icy roads on Sunday, January 16.
Driving will likely be treacherous, especially during the Friday morning commute. Local law enforcement, the National Weather Service and other organizations are urging drivers to remain off the roads if possible or to drive with extreme caution.
Photo via Madison Inouye.
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