The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch across much of the Carolinas, including Mecklenburg County and surrounding areas. A winter storm is expected to bring snow to the Charlotte area beginning on Friday in the afternoon or late evening.
NWS meteorologist Mike Rehnberg said this storm is expected to be all snow, a difference from last week’s storm.
"Forecast snowfall totals for the bulk of the Charlotte metro area kind of land right around the 6 to 6.5 inch mark and again of course there's still some wiggle room there. The forecast is not totally set in stone just yet, but, that kind of range of 4 to 7 inches is still kind of what we're thinking," he said.
Rehnberg also said he expects the heaviest snowfall after daybreak on Saturday. Temperatures on Sunday are expected to be as low as 11 degrees in Charlotte.
Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency Thursday afternoon.
"I've just declared a state of emergency for this storm, separate from the one we had last week," he said.
Stein said road crews are prioritizing treating and clearing highways. He said he knows people are still seeing icy patches from last weekend's storm and dealing with schools being closed or delayed. Stein said workers will try move as quickly as possible to clear roads, but asks for patience.
"We wish after a major storm that it could be 24 hours, that's just not the way the world words," he said. "We want people to be safe, we want them to get through and we want them to get back to their normal life as easily as they possibly can but we want to be realistic as well."