We live along the North Carolina coast, where most of the year it's nice, warm and sunny. Tropical storms and hurricanes are expected and prepared for every year, that is usually the major weather event that comes to mind when thinking of the coast. But a Nor'easter? Severely unprepared for, as it is just generally not expected in these parts.
It had just started snowing when I was leaving for work. Initially it wasn't a huge amount falling from the sky, but as I made my way I was going into denser snowfall with some pretty significant accumulations happening out the gate.
More storm progress photos. On the left was at 7:48, on the right was at 9:52.
It was easy at work to see how bad it was getting outside, snowfall rates were picking up pretty quickly which in turn presented a dilemma: how much snow do I feel comfortable driving in around a bunch of people who don't know how to drive in it? The answer wasn't a lot, and I ended up leaving work at noon.
Driving conditions at 12:30 PM on 1/31.
I definitely made the right call, as my 4x4 Jeep was sliding and losing traction on the way home. Other vehicles were having the same issues, the salt brine they have sprayed onto the roads leading into the storm allowed a nice thick layer of ice to form underneath the accumulating snow. If I had stayed even maybe 20 minutes later, I feel like I almost certainly would've thrown myself into a ditch with some of the bends along my path to work.
Snowfall accumulations from roughly 1 PM to 5:30 PM
This thing dumped snow on us, all of it being the super tiny powder-like flakes instead of the wet heavy snow that we get when it has snowed in the past. It reminded me of what the North East tends to get snow wise. Crazy thing about this is the 'bomb cyclone' hadn't even really started to bomb out yet, it's output was about to jump much higher.
Show more snow accumulation, went from 9.5" at 8:30 PM to ~20" at 8 AM 2/1.
It has been a long time since I have seen this amount of snowfall. This area around here is wildly unprepared for this sort of winter storm, nowhere near the amount of plows needed to get roads cleared so life can return to normal. That being said, I have no doubt this will be an event talked about for years to come, and I'm glad my kiddo got to experience a proper snow.
Last but not least, more snow pictures showing our main road.
