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NEWS

Black ice expected to form overnight; districts cancel Tuesday classes

Monday, March 2, 2009
(Updated Tuesday, March 3 - 12:17 am)

Expect winter to stick around for a few more days.

After an overnight storm dumped 4 to 6 inches of snow on the area, the slush and melting snow will freeze overnight.

The National Weather Service has issued a black ice advisory for the Triad starting at 6 p.m. today. Temperatures are expected to dip down into the low to mid teens overnight and will not get above freezing until sometime Tuesday afternoon. Forecasters say motorists should avoid traveling after dark tonight. (Read the advisory.)

The rare March snowstorm closed schools and businesses and snarled traffic throughout the area. (Click here for National Weather Service snowfall totals.)

The weight of the snow coupled with sustained winds of 15 to 20 mph broke tree branches, which fell on roads and power lines.

The number of Duke Energy power outages surged to 142,000 by about 12:45 p.m. today. In the Triad, outages had dropped to about 11,000 from nearly 29,000 earlier today. Some 8,751 customers in Guilford County were without power as of 12:45 p.m. today.

Photos from the snow

Roads were treacherous for much of the morning. Police and the Highway Patrol reported numerous accidents on slick roads this morning.

Lanes on westbound Wendover Avenue near Rollins Street were blocked at about 9 a.m. Monday when a Toyota 4Runner SUV hit a utility pole. The driver was traveling west on Wendover Avenue when he lost control, flipped sideways and hit a utility pole, Greensboro police officer A.S. Cameron said.

Police had not released the name of the driver, who was able to crawl out through the back window. He appeared to be suffering from minor injuries, Cameron said.

Local schools and universities are closed today. They include the Guilford, Rockingham, Randolph, Forsyth and Davidson county school districts and UNCG, N.C. A&T, and GTCC.

Guilford County Schools students will make up the missed day on June 12.

The city of Greensboro postponed trash and recycling collection. Monday's service will take place on Tuesday and Tuesday's service will take place on Wednesday, weather permitting.

The High Point City Council meeting, which was to be held Monday at 4:45 p.m., has been cancelled. The public hearings will be held on April 6, at 5:30 p.m.

Monday night's Gibsonville Board of Aldermen meeting at 7 p.m. has been cancelled. The meeting has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. on March 16.

Snowfall amounts totaled up to 7 inches in some parts of the Piedmont Triad, with 7.5 inches accumulating in Clemmons, said Jonathan Blaes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. Piedmont Triad International Airport reported 5.7 inches of snow.

Up to a foot of snow fell in parts of the mountains around Boone. Areas east of Interstate 95 got only an inch.

The Triad, which hasn't seen this amount of snow in years, seemed to be making up for lost time.

"The Triad has missed out on a lot of winter events in the past two three years," Blaes said.

But it's not unprecedented.

"It's not unusual to get a snow event like this in March," he said. "And it's typically pretty wet and kind of sloppy."

It's going to stick around for the next few days.

That's because the high for today and Tuesday is expected to be around freezing, and skies will remain clear. Although the sun will melt some snow, overnight lows will hang in the low teens. A low of 12 is forecast for tonight, Blaes said.

The real melting won't happen until Wednesday, when the Greensboro area will see highs in the 50s. Temperatures will rise into the 60s this weekend.

The storm started Saturday, when much of North Carolina was soaked by badly needed rainfall. The rain continued through Sunday, then turned to snow Sunday afternoon as temperatures hovered around 32 degrees.

As roads grew slick, state and local authorities reported numerous fender-benders overnight as road crews started to work.

Ralph Speas and son, Kevin Speas, found Sunday's rainy, cold weather perfect for an afternoon nap. But the wintery weather intervened.

"I heard fire trucks go by," Kevin Speas said. So he went to the front door to investigate. "I was standing there and bam!"

Two old red oaks fell against the 1898 heart pine house at 4809 Kenview St. They were supported only by the broken porch and part of the roof it landed on.

One of the home's two chimneys was split and its flue damaged. There's also a hole in the attic.

"You can't get any wood tougher than that," Ralph Speas said of the heart pine. "The house bounced. It bounced me in my bed and woke me up.

"We have power, and the living space is intact, so we're going to stay," he said.

Neighbor Rob Rogg, who also owns Tree Experts, believes root rot and ice were the culprits of the 75-year-old oaks' downfall. The trees were braced together with a rope. When one of the trees fell, it took the other with it.

Elsewhere, police and rescuers went car-by-car Monday to check on motorists stranded along Interstate 85 after a crash across the South Carolina border, patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said Monday.

"We were stuck with 15 miles of stalled traffic," Clendenin said. "Troopers and the Red Cross went to check vehicles to be sure people were OK."

There were no serious problems before authorities were able to get traffic moving again.

Scott Davis, 47, of Raleigh, stopped at a gas station after a night of working outdoors at a soybean plant.

"It's pretty weird," Davis said as he chipped ice off his windshield. "It was pretty damp and pretty wet. I was glad to get into some dry clothes, that's for sure."

In South Carolina, the winter storm brought up to 10 inches of snow in some parts. Motorists were advised to stay off icy roads in northeastern counties, and Gov. Mark Sanford delayed the opening of state offices in 28 counties.

More than 120,000 customers were without power in Virginia and crews were working on restoring electricity to hospitals and water-treatment plants before turning to homes. A winter storm warning was in effect for much of the state and several inches of snow had already accumulated.

A total of 6 to 9 inches was expected along and to the east of I-95 north of Fredericksburg.

Some students in Georgia had the day off of school, and flights were canceled or delayed at airports across the region. Tennessee, which had nearly a foot of snow in some places, hadn't seen that much snowfall since a storm brought between 16 and 22 inches to the region in March of 1968.

Accompanying Photos

Nelson Kepley

Photo Caption: Snow is cleared Monday in downtown Greensboro.

THE FORECAST

The Greensboro area forecast from the National Weather Service in Raleigh:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 32. North wind between 15 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 13. Northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm.

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 36. Calm wind becoming northwest between 4 and 7 mph.

For more, click here.

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS

E-mail us your snow photos to photo@news-record.com

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histrion

March 2, 2009 - 11:00 am EST

Finally!

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