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Rapid Reaction: Back-to-Back Ice Storms Pound the Northern Piedmont

winter weather

A map of global sea surface temperature anomalies from October 2022

Nov 17, 2022

Winter Outlook for 2022-23: La Niña Lives On

A persistent Pacific pattern is back again, putting us in line for a rare triple-dip La Niña this winter. But with each of the past two winters playing out very differently in North Carolina, what can we expect this year? In our eleventh annual winter outlook, we’ll examine the current ENSO conditions, the rarity of…
A map of percent of normal precipitation for December 2021 through February 2022

Mar 8, 2022

Winter Recap 2021-22: Warm Weather Prevails, Even with a Snowy Surprise

In North Carolina, it was a winter of warmth with a month of cool, snowy weather stuck in the middle. So what shaped our weather over the past 3 months, what do the statistics show across the state, and what can we expect as we enter the spring? Our Winter Patterns In our winter outlook…

Feb 3, 2022

Rain, Ice, and Snow Had Us Covered in January

In all its forms, precipitation piled up in a wet January, although drought remains in some areas. Cool weather also reversed our warm December pattern – but how long will it stick around? Frozen Precipitation Fuels a Wet Month The skies opened up and brought a variety of precipitation types, which added up to make…
A photo of snow on the Appalachian State campus (Jan 2022)

Jan 24, 2022

Three Storms in Three Weeks Jump Start the Winter

Our weather has taken a “new year, new me” approach to 2022, with the warm and dry pattern from late 2021 replaced by a decidedly cooler and wetter one. That has included three impactful winter storms — on January 3, January 16, and January 21 — that affected all corners of the state in one…
A map of the most recent snow event bringing at least 6 inches to parts of North Carolina

Nov 19, 2021

Climate Curiosities: Our Last Big Snow Events

After a couple of lackluster winters in a row — and with an outlook that doesn’t exactly scream “snow days on the way!” — the flakes feel fleeting and snow seems scarce across North Carolina. By opening up the historical records, we can see just how long it’s been since significant snow fell in different…
A map of global sea surface temperature anomalies in October 2021

Nov 9, 2021

Winter Outlook 2021-22: La Niña, Take Two?

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but for some meteorologists, it’s feeling a bit like Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, a La Niña event is developing as we head into the winter, leaving us to wonder how — or even if — it will affect our weather. Last year’s event never produced…
Winter 2020-2021 Snow Accmulation

Mar 16, 2021

Winter Recap 2020-21: La Niña Lays Low in a Persistent Wet Winter

Chalk it up to atmospheric anomalies or a forecast without foresight. Either way, this winter defied expectations and drenched most of North Carolina for yet another season. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the three-month period from December 2020 through February 2021 ranked as our 13th-wettest winter since 1895 based on the statewide average precipitation…
Feb 2021 Precip Summary

Mar 3, 2021

Very Wet, Fairly Cold, but Rarely Snow This February

The jet stream pattern in February brought plenty of precipitation and some colder air into North Carolina, but that did not materialize into much snow across the state. A Soaked February The shortest month of the year was packed with plenty of precipitation. The National Centers for Environmental Information reports a preliminary statewide average precipitation of 5.69 inches, which ranks as…
Power Crew

Feb 20, 2021

Rapid Reaction: Back-to-Back Ice Storms Pound the Northern Piedmont

If the Piedmont of North Carolina is the ice storm capital of the south, then the ruling weather regime had a full docket over the past week, with two damaging storms since last Friday. These high-impact events locally were part of a larger active weather pattern that has seen snow blanket nearly three-quarters of the continental US, extreme…