‘Black ice’ remains a threat as Charlotte escapes full brunt of winter storm
“Black ice” remained a threat in the Charlotte region on Friday morning as the metro area skirted the worst of a winter storm.
Temperatures at Charlotte’s airport unexpectedly stayed a degree above freezing in the hours before dawn Thursday, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Rehnberg said.
That slight warming trend here and elsewhere in the Carolinas prevented what Duke Energy and emergency officials feared could have been widespread outages.
Duke Energy on Wednesday warned that a million customers in the two states could lose power, and the company readied 5,400 workers and contractors to respond.
At 1:35 p.m. Thursday, North Carolina utility companies reported nearly 23,000 power outages statewide, Gov. Roy Cooper said.
“These were largely due to ice accumulation bringing down trees and power lines,” Cooper said in a news release. “Extra utility crews are at work to restore power as quickly as possible.”
About 12,000 Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas were without power at 3 p.m. Thursday, dropping to just under 5,000 by 5:30 p.m.
Cooper issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in advance of the storm, including an authorization for 40 National Guard personnel to help remove fallen trees and debris.
The greatest number of outages in the Charlotte area, about 3,000, were reported southeast of Mooresville in Iredell County, along the N.C. 3 and Rocky River Road corridors, according to the Duke Energy outage map late Thursday morning. Fewer than 100 customers lost power in Mecklenburg County.
“Temperatures on the surface didn’t get as low as expected,” Rehnberg said, saying Thursday’s low varied from 33 degrees to 35 degrees depending on the area. Temperatures fell as the early morning progressed then suddenly stopped dropping, he said.
“We got really close to the point where we could have had a really bad situation,” Rehnberg said.
Ice accumulations
The worst of the ice in the Charlotte area fell to the north of Mecklenburg.
Uptown Charlotte saw no ice accumulation, while parts of northeast Charlotte and north Mecklenburg saw less than one-tenth of an inch of ice, according to the NWS ice accumulation map.
Maiden in Catawba County had the highest accumulation at a quarter of an inch, according to the NWS office in Greer, S.C.
Statesville, Taylorsville and Conover saw 0.1 inches of ice, while Union Grove in northern Iredell County and Salisbury in Rowan County had 0.2 inches from the storm, according to the NWS.
In the North Carolina mountains, a quarter of an inch of ice accumulated in Burnsville and 0.4 inches in Saluda, according to NWS figures.
NWS forecasters said they anticipated far worse.
“The ice threat from this storm did not pan out as we had it in the forecast for the southern NC Piedmont, Upstate of SC, and NE GA,” NWS meteorologists tweeted Thursday afternoon. “With that being said, a few factors led to the lowered impacts. In events like these, it is always better to err on the side of caution!”
More severe weather possible
Black ice, patches of ice that drivers can’t easily see, could lurk across the Charlotte area through Thursday night, Rehnberg said.
Statesville had a 50% chance of another bout of freezing rain and sleet early Friday, with the chance continuing until about 9 a.m., according to the NWS forecast.
Statewide, Cooper said, temperatures were expected to fall below freezing in many areas late Thursday and early Friday.
“Any lingering moisture will re-freeze, creating hazardous road conditions,” the governor said. “Conditions will improve Friday, as temperatures will rise above freezing across North Carolina.”
For Charlotte, storm clouds should finally begin to lift on Friday, NWS forecasters said.
The overnight low in Charlotte was expected to remain about two degrees above freezing, according to the NWS forecast.
On Saturday, all sunshine is forecast in Charlotte, with an expected high of 44 degrees.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 6:24 AM.