Hurricane Harbor: Snow Slipping Away from the Carolinas. ICE STORM More than Snow Storm. Use Time Now to Get What YOU Need Most!

My starting point here is to try and convey.... attempt to explain as simply as possible what the real danger of ICE and Freezing Rain is in the Carolinas and other parts of the South and why this is where the real trouble sets up. Many who hate snow are celebrating the lack of snow being forecast now in this region. It's as if they won the Gold Medal at the Olympics in their mind, because they hate snow so much. The problem we have is that we have lost the snow in the forecast and found the ICE STORM that I've always been curious to see in Raleigh. I'm a weather person, I'm curious and I love any real weather and I've always said "I want to see a real Ice Storm" as I've heard it's incredibly visually beautiful and yet I know it's horrifically damaging to all forms of life especially trees. Raleigh is the City of Oaks. The whole area of the Piedmont Crescent from Charlotte to Raleigh is loaded with more types of trees than you can imagine and come summer you can barely see the sky is some places just a wall of green in every direction. So yeah... it's a problem. Dirty truth is it's the city of Pines and they snap fast even in mild Ice events as I have watched in real time.

After living here 16 years the reality of the size of the problem is huge and weighs on those of us trying to convey the deadly dangers of an Ice Storm with a long period after the storm of single digit temperatures or if we get lucky just in the Teens meaning the snow will not be immediately melting when the sun comes up as it usually does it will be locking in the cold.

Freezing Rain is the most misunderstood type of weather no matter how many graphs and videos are made. It's FREEZING. Everything gets ICY.

Falling trees shut down our roads, highways and emergency exits should you need to get to the hospital fast.

Power lines that "could" get over a half an inch of snow or more in some places go down.... the power goes out and if that does happen it will take quite a while to put Charlotte and Raleigh back together. Even harder for all the beautiful little towns in between. Especially when lineman and emergency crews are in Northern Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and well the point is ... all emergency crews that normally rush into one small area that gets a Winter Storm are stretched now across a wide area and it will take longer than normal to get back to normal.

ICE is not your friend.

Pink graphics vs blue on the weather maps is not your friend.

It may look like Victoria's Secrets pink but it's cold, deadly and dangerous. I may actually wear that leopard, soft furry bathrobe I bought at some sale once but rarely wear.

Rarely do we get a real ICE STORM though often we get warnings of ICE.

And then the bigger problem is explaining "Freezing Rain" to people who think they won the Winter Lotto and are having a tropical Staycation because the forecast for a snow storm seems to be slipping away. Speaking of "tropical" if the ICE STORM hits Myrtle Beach (praying it does not) the palm trees look all shades of dead collapsing inward (so sad looking) and your golf courses will need some work and well see Myrtle Beach after an Ice Storm and it was "sad" and actually painful to see palm trees bent out of shape like that.

So know there is no "if we go shopping on Sunday" in this part of the Carolinas... or Virgina or parts of Georgia and yes Florida is exempt from the Ice and Snow tho they will be feeling the cold and freaking out because it's in the 50s. Tourists will complain and want their money back.

Seriously take this seriously.

We can always pray the warm nose comes in from the ocean (East) and cuts into the Ice or Sleet totals.

We can pray for CAD to help in some areas to mitigate the frozen P type totals.

We can pray for what we normally call snow holes and have areas with less ICE or sleet.

Hey we can pray for snow. I always pray for snow tho I know that's slip sliding away.

NWS getting close in some areas to having to put up a Winter Weather Warning....

Leaving this blog unfinished but posting. Going out today. I need a "me day" and out and about day. I want to measure the reality of how the public is feeling and what they are saying and doing.