Ahead of a winter storm, Gov. Josh Stein is warning North Carolinians to be prepared to stay off of roads over the weekend and to go without power for a few days.
"This has the potential to be a massive disruption to people's lives," Stein said during a Thursday press conference.
As of Thursday morning, the National Weather Service was predicting that North Carolina would see more impacts from ice and freezing rain than from snow.
The most significant precipitation is likely to begin Saturday morning and last into Sunday evening, with the Weather Service warning that "significant accumulations of ice" are likely. That could result in power outages, downed tress and hazardous driving conditions.
Frigid temperatures are expected to arrive Saturday and potentially last into Tuesday.
There is a 60%-to-90% chance that much of the state will see impacts from the storm, said N.C. Emergency Management Director Will Ray. The southwestern corner of the state is expected to see the most significant impacts, with snowfall.
"Confidence in the forecast continues to increase that this will be a significant event covering most of the state," Ray said.
Ray and other officials are urging North Carolinians to wrap up all preparations for the storm by Friday evening.
Expected power outages
Duke Energy warned in a press release that "multiday outages" are possible in places with significant ice accumulation.
If there's a quarter inch of ice, Duke warned, trees can fall onto power lines. A half-inch of ice can cause the lines themselves to sag.
"While the forecast is still uncertain, it’s very possible that we could experience the Carolinas’ most extreme winter storm in over 20 years," Rick Canavan, Duke Energy's storm director, said in a press release.
Duke crews are trimming trees and vegetation ahead of the storm, with more than 18,000 lineworkers and crews ready to work as soon as roads are safe. That includes lineworkers and crews from the Carolinas, as well as Duke lineworkers from Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
"They are taking it extremely seriously, and we look forward to working with them, clearing the roadways so they can quickly get to where they need to go to ensure that people's power is restored as soon as possible," Stein said.
Avoid travel on icy roads
People should plan on avoiding travel over the weekend, state officials said, and driving could remain risky into early next week. N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson said road conditions could begin to deteriorate quickly on Saturday.
"Cars and ice simply do not mix," Johnson said.
The storm is likely to impact roads throughout the state, Johnson added, but highway officials are particularly worried about places where there are steep grades.
Those include Interstate 40 around Clyde, Interstate 40 around Old Fort, the Saluda Grade (N.C. 176) in Polk County and parts of Interstate 77 in Surry County. The state has pre-deployed joint N.C. Department of Transportation and National Guard teams to some of those places to help move vehicles that become stranded from roads.
"Some locations could see winter weather like they haven't seen in years. For those reasons, the storm has our full attention," Johnson said.
DOT officials have spread 300,000 gallons of brine across the state's roadways. The department has 1,250 dump trucks that could be fitted to clear ice and snow, more than 200 graders that could be used to respond to the storm and more than 150,000 tons of salt ready to treat roads, with efforts underway to secure more.
"Our crews are prepared to work around the clock in shifts to plow and treat snow and ice until state-maintained roads are clear," Johnson said.
Still, Stein warned, the process of ice melting and refreezing can result in black ice for days after the storm's arrival. Those impacts could continue into Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Please avoid driving unless it is necessary to travel," Stein said.
North Carolina has also mobilized its National Guard to help move commodities like food, water and heaters to the places where they are needed.
