We’re almost one week into the New Year, but already in 2022, North Carolina weather is living up to its reputation of having a little something for everyone. Love milder temps in winter? Check. The high in Henderson was 75 on Jan. 1.
Prefer to have some snow in the forecast to make it feel like it supposed to feel this time of year? Check. A wet snow fell fast and heavy on Monday in the area, but it went as quickly as it came.
Jonathan Blaes with the National Weather Service says that this could be a pattern we can expect, at least for the next couple of weeks.
“It was a really neat storm,” the meteorologist said of the short-lived event that blanketed the area Monday.
Blaes said the dynamic storm system brought a bit of everything to the state, from high winds and at least one tornado in Harnett County and up to several inches of snow near the Virginia border. “A vigorous front will come through tonight (Thursday), and tomorrow will be a crazy windy, blustery day,” he said.
It’ll turn cold behind the next front, too, so it will feel like winter for the next week or so.
If you’re a snow lover, and the next 10 days or two weeks doesn’t do it for you, take heart, Blaes said. Historically, late January brings with it the chance of more wet snow.
From what he and his fellow meteorologists can tell so far from studying global weather patterns, it’s possible that over the next couple of weeks the area could have additional snowfall.
“It’s certainly going to be close enough so if a storm tracks close enough (to the area), we could get some snow.”
The messy mix of precipitation – rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow and then back to rain – is what this area is used to seeing. Meteorologists classify this type of storm as a “Miller A,” which indicates that the storm moves as a single low front tracking from the south. This week’s storm wasn’t a classic Miller A, Blaes said, but the area did see a changeover from rain to snow, back to rain before skies cleared and the sun reappeared.
“If you’re in the right spot, you’ll get clobbered,” from such a storm, like the areas around Washington, DC where almost a foot of snow fell and motorists were stranded overnight on I-95 near Fredericksburg, VA.
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