Sleet and freezing rain is making for an icy Sunday in much of the state, but things were a bit different with a winter storm that hit North Carolina exactly 26 years ago.
What You Need To Know
- The January 2000 storm was a “surprise storm,” as it was not well forecast even 24 hours before the snow started falling
- Improvements in forecast models over the last 25 years should make for more reliable forecasts now
- Power companies like Duke Energy say they learned lessons in power restoration from the 2000 snowstorm
That storm had very little sleet, but a whole lot of snow. The snowfall from Jan. 24-25, 2000, still stands as the record for the most snow from one storm in Raleigh.
Even less than 24 hours before the snow started, forecasts predicted a much smaller amount.
N.C. State meteorology professor Dr. Gary Lackmann told us, “I remember we were looking at some of the maps, the satellite and the radar and thinking we could get 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 inches of snow.”…