Storm Brings Rare Heavy Ice, Snowfall To Virginia And The Carolinas

Topline

A storm brought ice and snow overnight Friday to parts of the South that don’t usually see that kind of winter weather for the second time in less than a week.

Richard Fuller, 45, shovels a sidewalk in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday Jan. 22, 2022. A winter storm … [+] left as much of six inches of snow in parts of coastal Virginia and North Carolina as well as ice further south in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. (AP Photo/Ben Finley).

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Key Facts

Up to 6 inches of snow accumulated in areas of southern Virginia and northern North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service.

Coastal cities like Wilmington, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, faced a “once-in-a-decade” ice storm, which left up to a quarter of an inch of ice in beach towns that are unaccustomed to such weather.

Carl Morgan, a meteorologist with the NWS in Wilmington, told NPR there was “a glaze reported as far south as Charleston.”

The NWS said it wasn’t expecting any more snowfall past 1 p.m. as the storm headed offshore toward the Atlantic, but temperatures were expected to remain below freezing overnight through much of the region.

Big Number

900. That’s about how many vehicle collision reports the North Carolina State Highway Patrol officers responded to due to the storm, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Tangent

Icy conditions at Raleigh-Durham International Airport caused a Delta flight arriving from Washington, D.C., to slip off of a runway and roll “into the mud” Friday night. It took crews over 12 hours to drag the plane out of the mud, local news station WRAL reports. All 13 people aboard the plane were unharmed, Delta said in a statement to WRAL.

Key Background

This is the second winter storm bringing snow and ice to areas of the South that generally don’t get that kind of weather in less than a week. The governors of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina declared states of emergencies due to the weather for the second time in a week. Last week’s winter weather led to thousands of flight cancellations throughout the region on Sunday, including grounding hundreds of flights at major American and Delta hubs in Charlotte and Atlanta.

What To Watch For

The NWS warned of dangerous black ice conditions Saturday, with temperatures forecast to drop into the teens and low 20s in central and southeastern Virginia and throughout the Carolinas. Officials urged drivers to use caution if travel was needed, and to prepare for “rapidly changing” road conditions.