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January Cold Fronts Can Deliver a Rapid Chill

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Mt Mitchell Stations

Jul 8, 2019

Mount Mitchell Wrings Out a New Record

The most extreme site in North Carolina has added another item to its resume. After a recent review by a committee of statewide scientists, Mount Mitchell’s annual precipitation total of 139.94 inches in 2018 has been confirmed as the wettest calendar year on record anywhere in the state. Mount Mitchell is already a record-holder for…

Mar 29, 2019

CoCoRaHS Reports Offered Unique Insights into Florence

During significant weather events, on-the-ground observations often provide us with the best indications of local conditions and impacts, but we don’t just get this information from automated weather stations. In fact, during Hurricane Florence last fall, some of the most meaningful — and most impressive — observations came from the backyards of volunteer observers! Those…

Jan 3, 2019

A Drenched December Caps a Record Wet Year

Precipitation continued to be the main story in North Carolina’s weather, including a record wet December that — despite a substantial wintry event early in the month — was also a bit warmer than normal. December’s rainfall wrapped up a wet year that also set records across the state. Snowy to Start, Rainy for the…

Jun 4, 2018

May Was Hot and Humid with Heavy Rains

Between torrential flood-causing rainfall and warm, humid weather, it was an active and often uncomfortable May weather-wise. Our latest climate summary takes a look at the past month in North Carolina, including an interesting observation from one of our stations. Record-Setting Rainfall This year’s April showers continued into May, as widespread rainfall produced our wettest…

May 8, 2017

Remembering the Surprise Spring Snow in May 1992

By early May, even North Carolina’s Mountains have usually escaped winter’s grasp. Ski resorts have closed, pastures are greening up, and spring’s final freeze has come and gone. You can imagine the surprise, then, when a springtime storm brought a significant snowfall to the high elevations of the Mountains on May 5-9, 1992. Snow from…

Dec 21, 2016

Record Snow or No? Behind the Scenes of a Record Event Review

Last year on our blog, we covered many of North Carolina’s historical extreme weather events, including the state record snowfall — 36 inches in 24 hours — from Mount Mitchell during the so-called “Storm of the Century” in March of 1993. Given the well-timed convergence of potent ingredients in that event, it’s no surprise that…

Apr 22, 2016

From Snow Cones to Snow Showers: April 1983’s Snow and Freeze

Thirty-three years ago this week amid a warm spring in 1983, an April shower brought a record-setting springtime snow, followed by several days of sub-freezing temperatures that wrecked havoc on the summertime fruit crop. Not unlike our recent winter, the winter of 1982-83 featured a strong El Nino event in the Pacific that brought wet…

Jan 26, 2016

Rapid Reaction: Winter’s First Major Storm Brings Snow, Sleet, Ice, and Rain

A two-day wintry event last Friday and Saturday was a classic Carolina storm, with a mixed bag of precipitation across the state ranging from heavy snow in the Mountains to sleet and freezing rain in the Piedmont to rain along the coast. The Storm’s Setup The event took shape earlier in the week as a…

Jan 20, 2016

January Cold Fronts Can Deliver a Rapid Chill

Wintertime cold frontal passages can usher in frigid Arctic air, and when warm air is in place ahead of the fronts, they can set the stage for other extremes: rapid temperature drops and large statewide differences. Greatest 24-Hour Temperature Change Temperature decreases of 30 degrees or more during these frontal passages are not uncommon. In…