Recayah Shahid at Waffle House, with John Benson, from Mooresville. He popped in the car and drove here in the snow.
UPDATE 6 am. Jan. 17. Snow was coming down heavily at 6 am, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are closed and overnight the National Weather Service changed the forecast for snow from 1-2 inches to 3-5 inches.
The flakes right now are big and falling fast. The worst—or best—is expected during morning drive time.
The Waffle House is open, and so are gas stations. John Benson, who grew up in Michigan, said roads were good at 6 am. He drove down from Mooresville for breakfast at the Waffle House. He was the only customer for a while.
At 5:30 am, Mecklenburg County said its departments were opening on time and running a normal schedule.
The low tonight will be 17 degrees, according to the weather service.
Some local businesses are telling employees to play it by ear tomorrow. The Town of Cornelius has spread thousands of gallons of brine mix on major local roads like Hwy. 21, Bethel Church, Torrence Chapel and Catawba. Public Works will be on deck at 6 am Wednesday to work on roads, according to Tyler Beardsley, assistant to the Town Manager.
It’s the second widespread winter storm in less than a month. Gov. Roy Cooper once again declared a state of emergency and urged North Carolinians to stay off the roads when travel becomes dangerous.
Plenty of bread Tuesday night at the Teeter
“Nearly all of North Carolina will be impacted by this winter storm, and we’re making sure North Carolina is ready,” Cooper said. “I urge all of our residents to be prepared and to stay safe.”
Meteorologists are predicting at least one to two inches of snow for nearly the entire state. Portions of central North Carolina are expected to see two to four inches with locally higher amounts of five to six inches in some areas. Forecasts call for the skies to clear by Wednesday night across much of the state, but below freezing temperatures mean we can expect hazardous travel conditions to continue through Thursday morning.
Cooper declared a state of emergency to enable emergency management to assist with storm response and recovery. The declaration also triggers state law against charging excessive prices during an emergency. He also issued an executive order waiving truck weight, size and hours of service restrictions to ease movement of supplies and equipment.
