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Arctic air bears down on N.C.
Associated Press photo
An Arctic cold wave is bearing down on N.C. after causing sub-zero temperatures in the Midwest. A student on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha tries to protect herself from the cold, in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday.
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Published: January 14, 2009
A blast of cold Arctic air will send temperatures tonight to the mid-teens in Northwest North Carolina, forecasters said today. Snow is likely in the higher elevations through Thursday in the mountains, with an expected accumulation of 1 to 2 inches.
Nearly 20 mph wind with gusts up to 38 mph will cause a wind-chill factor between zero to 5 degrees in mountains, said Jan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va. The wind chill will be in the upper teens in the foothills.
"The snow isn't as much of a factor as the wind chill," Jackson.
Schools were closed today in Watauga County, where main roads were passable, but some secondary roads had icy spots. Snow had dusted Boone, but without significant accumulation. Schools were on a two-hour delay in Ashe County.
Wind-chill readings could be 20 below from late Thursday through Friday morning in Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga counties and in Grayson County, Va., according to a hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service. The low tonight is expected to be about 7 degrees.
Friday should be sunny and mostly clear, but the high temperature in Boone is expected to climb into the low to mid-teens and then drop to about 4 degrees Friday night.
In Wilkes County, the forecast calls for tonight's low to be around 14 degrees, with a low Friday night at around 8 degrees.
On Thursday, residents in the mountains will see high temperatures in the single digits, and it could drop to below zero in the higher elevations, Jackson said.
In the Triad Thursday, high temperatures will reach the mid-30s, said Brandon Locklear, a meteorologist with the weather service in Raleigh. Wind moving at 10 to 15 mph with gusts of up 18 mph will bring a wind chill in the 20s.
By Thursday night, the low temperatures will drop to the mid-teens, Locklear said. The highs Friday will reach into the mid-20s.
Arctic air will remain Friday night as the low temperature will range from 10 degrees to single digits, Locklear said. The low temperatures will range from below zero in the mountains to around zero in the foothills.
Mike Ryan, the interim executive director of the Bethesda Center for the Homeless in Winston-Salem, said he is concerned about the forecast of low temperatures.
"With the temperature where it is, we're expecting some people who have been staying out to come in," he said.
The city's homeless population is around 500 at any given time, he said. Advocates will count the homeless population later this month.
An overflow shelter opened at First Baptist Church on Fifth Street on Jan. 1. That shelter can hold 30 people and has had up to 28 people, Ryan said.
Because that shelter is running close to capacity, homeless advocates will reopen the overflow shelter that had operated at the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission during December. The shelter will be open on Thursday and Friday nights, Ryan said.
Arctic air from Canada will move into the Southeast as the Jet Stream dips south and combines with a cold front, Jackson said. The cold air will move across the Carolinas and reach into Florida.
Residents in upper Midwest states such as Wisconsin and Minnesota have endured below zero temperatures from the Arctic blast this week, Jackson said.
The cold air extended its grip today with below-zero temperatures stretching from Montana to northern New England and frost nipping the Gulf Coast. Blowing snow cut visibility in Chicago.
Airlines canceled more than 300 flights at O'Hare International Airport. In nearby northwest Indiana, state police said one person was killed in a chain reaction crash involving about 20 vehicles on the Indiana Toll Road.
The cold wave bulged into the Northeast, abruptly dropping temperatures in New York state into the single digits and below zero — after Tuesday's readings in the 30s, the National Weather Service said.
Journal reporters Monte Mitchell, Mary Giunca and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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