Hurricane Harbor: Snow Covers the Ground in Raleigh. What Did We Learn From This Storm? I'm Happy.... Snowy & Beautiful in Raleigh Tonight!

So where do I start to tell this story of this amazing January that was filled with Winter Weather Warnings and snow that actually fell onto the ground in Raleigh in 2026?

I'm took the day off today and just enjoyed staring at the snow that finally fell around 7 PM Saturday Night as it shows up above on my screenshot from my phone......that did verify! I'm offline on Saturdays for the Sabbath and the first thing I did after the sunset here was grab my phone, check on my kids (really) and looked at the radar. I knew a dry slot would come like the Grinch and steal much of our snow that was earlier forecast to be as high as the sky or so it seemed and we'd be lucky if we'd get 3 inches. I stared at my dry back yard with a bit of ice still from the sleet storm the weekend before....and it did kind of "smell like snow" on the balcony looking out wondering when this much ballyhooed snow would actually...........really fall. And, it did as the APP promised and as many had said that the Dry Slot would steal snow early on but eventually snow would move in from the Coastal Low and it did. I'm in a long, run on sentence mood......

Am I upset? Not really. Been here when there's been more than 8 inches of snow and it took weeks to get back to normal. But that part of me that loves weather and weather history would like to have seen it again. Been here 16 years though I'll admit the first half of that I was in Miami as much as I was here as I had family commitments there. Still ........we go for sometimes 2 or 3 years without even a fricking flake falling. I mean nothing. Promises of maybe flurries and nada, nothing.......not even a stray snow flake. For someone like me that loves a Carolina Winter you feel cheated, deprived and frustrated.

This year we had snow falling a few times before the promised huge totals of snow and so really I'm kind of happy and smiling and typing this from my bed, under 2 very warm covers and the sound of the little fake fireplace nearby and staring out at a touch of a pink, coral sunset illuminating the tops of the Carolina Pines. My husband is making dinner. I'm just chilling, but trying to stay warm as I don't like the heat on too high as honestly it messes with my sinuses and yes I have a humidifier quietly humming as well.

What actually annoys me... if there's one thing .......is that people don't really listen to what we say nor all the ways we try to remind people it's a difficult forecast, it'll change often and there will be a wide range of snow possibilities. And people don't check back as we ask them to and don't remember to check if something changed and so "no I was not surprised the two storms did not phase and I was prepared not to get snow as high as the sky in Raleigh" but I thought we'd definitely get a solid dusting or 2 or 3 inches.

People need to understand a forecast is predicting with scientific knowledge as good as we can what might happen. And, in real time we get more data or as we say Down South "more better" data and modeling comes into better agreement and lastly we see how the two storms rotating separately but close together are actually behaving before we are sure some areas will get more, some areas less.

I talked a blue streak on how some cities in NC in the general Raleigh Durham area will get lots of snow and some barely any. Someone here in Raleigh read my blog and comments and when there was no snow yesterday he went over to the Temple for services and refreshments after and told my husband that he read what I said and told him his wife is "good and in the future he's just gonna listen to what she says" and I chuckled. In Miami many people say that who have been through decades of hurricane seasons with me, but here in Raleigh I'm not as well known and never thought I'd be good at explaining winter storms as they were totally a mystery to me when I moved here. No one ever could seem to get the forecast right and weren't sure what we would get until the snow began falling. Like that famous Weather Rock that tells you it's raining if it's wet. That's North Carolina, unless you're living out West in the mountains.

Link below if you want to buy it on Etsy

A bit bugged doesn't say Hurricane.

But I guess if it's windy and rainy...

...and the stone is gone prob Hurricane!

Seriously how much snow do we really NEED to say we got a snow storm? In my neck of the woods we did have 3 inches. I measured all over the yard on different surfaces with a ruler. I was so cold after that little scientific experiment. I'm in the part of the Raleigh area that's further North and further West where some higher totals were recorded. I'm gonna be upset because we did not get 7 inches? Come on, if you think that you don't know me. IF we got nothing but the dry slot and I woke up to not even a dusting I'd be really upset. Very upset.

So what did we learn?

Never listen to the first forecast and believe it's carved in stone.

Never expect you will get the highest total because it showed that 4 days out.

Same way just because you are in the Cone 7 to 10 days out doesn't mean you're getting the eye.

Cones change during hurricane season.

Models change a lot before a winter storm.

I'm good. And oh by the way there are more "chances" for more winter weather later this week in the area. As always follow your local experts, check back for updates and changes to the forecast. Do not expect to get a blizzard but don't pretend you might not get a little more snow or sleet or rain..

Cause it's North Carolina, we get a little bit of everything often in one week :) Cause Mother Nature and the Polar Vortex is not done with us yet........