Ice Storm — West Carteret, North Carolina

2022-01-21 to 2022-01-22 · West Carteret, North Carolina

Event narrative

Light freezing rain during the day transitioned to a mix of mainly sleet and freezing rain during the evening through the overnight. A few snowflakes mixed in but this was primarily an icing event, both freezing rain and sleet.

Ice accretion of a half inch was observed at the Newport National Weather Service. Sporadic power outages were reported due to the weight of ice bringing down trees and large limbs on powerlines. Specific ice totals included a half inch on the northwest side of Morehead City, to around a third of an inch in Bogue and Cape Carteret.

Wider weather episode

A cold front moved through the area late in the day of January 20th. As the front moved through rain changed over to a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain on the evening of January 20th through early morning on the 21st before ending. Significant amounts of ice fell toward the Crystal Coast, with a general 2 to 6 of snow mixed with sleet farther north and west. The icing amounts of a quarter to a half of an inch toward the Crystal Coast were the highest amounts of ice this area has experienced, over the widest area, since the late 1990s.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1006507. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.