RALEIGH – The National Weather Service is projecting between six and 11 inches of snow by the end of tomorrow for Orange County. National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Moneypenny says it should be a pretty constant event.
“It’s going to be a pretty much continuous event,” Moneypenny says. “We’re looking at the snow to continue to get a little bit heavier today. And then tomorrow, as the system actually pulls off to the northeast, it will wrap around some cold air and some more snow and come across tomorrow through around lunchtime.”
***Listen to the Interview***
Moneypenny says the question of if has been answered, but the more important question is what kind of precipitation the area will get and how much.
“We have a 100-percent probability of precipitation,” Moneypenny says. “Just about the whole state is going to be affected. The thing is, the ice accumulation is right across the heart of the state—from Charlotte up across Fayetteville and the Triangle area, including Chapel Hill. We could see power outages, which would last for more than a day or so after the end of the storm.”
Chapel Hill-Carrboro saw the worst flood since what some say dates back to the 1930s this summer. While this storm isn’t being projected as an 80-plus-year storm, Moneypenny says early estimates make it one of the worst in at least a decade.
“We see these ice storms on occasion, but, my goodness, I have not gone back and researched it,” Moneypenny says. “I think I’ve heard the number 2002 bandied around—the worst one we’re forecasting since then.”
Stay tuned to WCHL and Chapelboro.com for all the latest on the impending winter weather, including early releases from schools, closings, cancellations, and delays.
Forecast
Winter Storm Warning – Wednesday 9:00 a.m. to Thursday 6:00 p.m.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines