Wintry mix heading to Charlotte region. What to expect as the storm moves in.
A storm barreling across the western Carolinas threatens to dump a wintry mix of sleet and ice on the Charlotte region early Saturday, although Mecklenburg County may be spared the worst of the bad weather with only a cold rain, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Friday.
NWS weather models on Thursday showed Huntersville and Cornelius in line for less than .10 inches of ice and Statesville receiving the only snow in counties surrounding Mecklenburg.
The I-85 corridor through Mecklenburg could still see “a little burst of sleet” overnight, meteorologist Mike Rehnberg of the NWS office in Greer South Carolina, told The Charlotte Observer Friday morning.
Forecasters though, expect the worst of the wintry mix to dump along I-85 in South Carolina and possibly Gaston and Cleveland counties, Rehnberg said.
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Will Charlotte, NC get snow?
Alexander is now the nearest county to Mecklenburg that might see snow, according to the NWS forecast.
The wintry system set to arrive in the Charlotte area, Upstate South Carolina and the N.C. foothills and mountains “could begin as a brief period of a wintry mix, before changing to a cold rain by daybreak,” according to an NWS hazardous weather outlook bulletin issued at 5 a.m. Friday.
“A few locations along the Interstate 85 corridor could get a very light accumulation of sleet or ice on tree limbs before the change over to rain.”
Weather models shifted overnight to where north Mecklenburg is likely to see only rain, he said, although a spot or two could see a negligible amount of ice on power lines and tree limbs at 100th of an inch, he said.
Since Thursday, forecasters have predicted only rain for Charlotte.
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Winter weather advisory
At 4:30 a.m. Friday, the NWS issued a winter weather advisory from 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday that includes Iredell, Lincoln Cleveland, Catawba and Rowan counties.
“Total snow accumulations of up to one inch, mainly over the mountains, and ice accumulations of up to two tenths of an inch,” NWS forecasters wrote in the advisory.
Charlotte forecast
After a day of sunshine and an expected high of 46 on Friday, Charlotte has a 90% chance of rain mainly after 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the NWS Charlotte forecast at 10 a.m. Friday.
The city has a 100% chance of the rain continuing until about 1 p.m. Saturday and could see a thunderstorm, the forecast showed.
Sunday and Monday should be mostly sunny with predicted highs of 54 and 51. Tuesday has a 100% chance of showers returning, while sunshine returns for Wednesday and Thursday, according to the NWS forecast.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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