Raleigh, N.C. — Cold air that filtered into the Triangle on Thursday coupled with low pressure moving in will set the stage for the possibility of lots of snow in central and eastern North Carolina over the weekend.
The storm will move into the region around sunset on Friday and possibly continue through sunset on Saturday. Forecast models show the storm could bring up to 6 inches of snow around Raleigh.
“Snow is likely,” said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. “(We could get) 3 to 6 inches (with) lower amounts down south and, actually, north and west.
“It’s likely to be the Triangle area, north and east, that will have the higher accumulations.”
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for dozens of North Carolina counties, including Cumberland, Durham, Harnett and Wake counties. The alerts begin Friday at 7 p.m. and last through Saturday at 7 p.m.
The North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro announced it will be closed on Saturday and Sunday because of the storm, and the World’s Toughest Rodeo also postponed its show planned for Saturday at PNC Arena.
Some of the computer models vary on exactly how much snow will fall, but Gardner said they are trending in the same direction.
“We can look at the numbers in a lot of different ways,” Gardner said, “but the bottom line is most of the numbers are certainly pointing to a fairly significant snowfall for at least parts of our viewing area.”
A special thank you to our friends at WRAL for helping out with this post.