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Rapid Reaction: Late-Season Snow Adds to an Active Winter

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A photo of Rhodhiss Dam in 1926

Apr 30, 2026

A Century-Old Drought Offers Parallels to Today

As we remain mired in our worst statewide drought in more than 18 years, comparisons with historical droughts — especially that memorable 2007-08 event — have become common in recent weeks, including in our own assessment of the current drought and its impacts. We’ve generally labeled the 2007-08 drought as the worst in North Carolina’s…
A photo of a snowplow in deep snow outside the National Weather Service office in Newport, NC

Feb 2, 2026

Rapid Reaction: A Statewide Snowstorm for the Ages

Accumulating snow fell all across North Carolina last weekend in our most widespread wintry event in more than a dozen years, and the biggest snow for some areas in several decades. While this event had a classic Carolina snowstorm setup, it was anything but a garden variety winter storm, following an ideal pattern for significant…
A photo of ice-covered trees in Transylvania County on January 25, 2026

Jan 26, 2026

Rapid Reaction: Weekend Winter Storm Brings Icy Glaze, But Few Outages

A winter storm with an icy, damaging history dealt a relatively minor blow to North Carolina last weekend, leaving a slippery glaze but limited power outages in its wake. After an Arctic front arrived on Friday night to set up a frigid air mass – including afternoon temperatures only in the 20s on Saturday –…
A photo of snow on the ground and on a decorated tree next to the Pasquotank River in Elizabeth City

Dec 18, 2025

A Dream Come True: Remembering Our White Christmas in 2010

One of North Carolina’s rarest weather events became a reality 15 years ago as a White Christmas unfolded across the state. A two-part event on December 25 and 26, 2010, left snow falling in all 100 counties and more than a foot on the ground in parts of the Mountains and northern Coastal Plain. With…
An aerial view of flooding west of Asheville after Hurricane Helene

Sep 25, 2025

One Year After Helene, New Perspectives on Our Worst Storms

The sights and stories that slowly trickled out of western North Carolina last September were so shocking, they were at times hard to believe. Swollen rivers practically wiped out charming mountain towns such as Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, and Swannanoa. The death toll climbed across Buncombe County as search and rescue teams surveyed areas hit…
A photo of waves crashing into homes in Buxton during Hurricane Erin

Aug 22, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Hurricane Erin a Close Call with Coastal Damage

The first hurricane – and the first major hurricane – of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season passed off our coastline this week, and despite not making a direct landfall, it still had big impacts in parts of eastern North Carolina. Over the warm water in the central Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Erin became a formidable storm,…
A photo of boats piled up at the marina in Southport following Hurricane Isaias

Aug 5, 2025

Isaias’s Coastal Hit a Turning Point for NC Storms, Preparedness

Five years ago, an overactive Atlantic brought an early-season hurricane to North Carolina’s doorstep. Just after 11 pm on August 3, 2020, Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category-1 storm near Ocean Isle Beach along our southern coastline. Sneaking in overnight during a year dominated by other big news stories, Isaias and its impacts weren’t…
A photo of cars in deep flood waters at a shopping center in Chapel Hill after Tropical Storm Chantal

Jul 7, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Tropical Storm Chantal Soaks Central North Carolina

The first tropical system of the season to affect North Carolina produced locally heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of the Piedmont and Sandhills. Tropical Storm Chantal wasn’t particularly intense or long-lasting, but it had big impacts in areas such as Alamance, Chatham, Moore, and Orange counties where the heaviest rain occurred. Like many early-season…
A photo of snow on the ground at the Currituck Beach Light Station on February 19

Feb 20, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Late-Season Snow Adds to an Active Winter

The third significant winter storm of the season across the state brought a mixed bag of precipitation and bumped up the seasonal snow totals for some sites. Following mid-January’s snowstorm in the west and an eastern snow event later that month, this storm produced statewide impacts but varied precipitation types, ranging from all rain in…