People around Charlotte turned their faces to the sky Friday afternoon to witness the area’s first winter storm in three years.
Snow began to fall shortly before 3 p.m. in some parts of the metro area, sparking excitement and wonder among kids and adults alike.
Trisha Palmer, a forecaster with the National Weather Service's Greensville-Spartanburg area, said Charlotte is expected to see a modest blanket of snow and ice by Saturday morning, with the heaviest snowfall likely falling in areas north of the city.
"The Charlotte metro area could see anywhere from a half inch of snow, sleet accumulation on the south side of the metro area to anywhere to two inches as you get further north on I-77, possibly close to three inches of a snow, sleet mix," she said.
Some areas of the North Carolina mountains are bracing for around four to five inches of snow, with up to eight inches in some of the highest elevations.
The snow is expected to turn to a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain overnight. Palmer said that could make driving riskier than usual.
"Remember sleet is a form of ice," she said, "so that will compact the snow and it will create more hazardous to treacherous travel conditions, so please don’t underestimate the impacts of sleet mixing in with snow."
Many events that were planned for Friday evening have been canceled — including The Charlotte Symphony’s performance of Bach and Mozart at the Knight Theater.
Flight cancellations and delays are also piling up the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Travelers are encouraged to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.
The governors of North and South Carolina have declared states of emergency and are urging residents to stay off the roads, or travel with extreme caution Friday night.
At a news conference Friday morning, Josh Merwin, a tree maintenance supervisor for the city of Charlotte, said crews are expecting some downed trees by Saturday morning.
"The only thing we're really going to keep an eye on are trees that have foliage, which are all of our conifers, pines, Leyland's, cedars, some bigger junipers and stuff like that, but it'll be more limb failure than whole tree failure," he said.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system preemptively canceled classes for Friday, as did several other school districts surrounding Mecklenburg County. Some school districts in South Carolina, including the Fort Mill and Rock Hill School Districts moved students to remote learning.
The last time the Charlotte metro area saw measurable snowfall was in January 2022.
Kenneth Lee and Zachary Turner contributed reporting.
