Winter Storm Event

Ice Storm Started: January 2, 1999 at 2 pm EST Ended: January 3, 1999 at 6 am EST
A strong winter storm moved from the southern Plains into the Tennessee Valley and collided with strong arctic high pressure nosing south into the western Carolinas. Sleet and freezing rain were the main precipitation types during the afternoon and evening on the 2nd. Sleet became very heavy along and north of Interstate 40 where 4 to 6 inches accumulated. Sleet accumulated to between 1 and 2 inches south of Interstate 40 before changing to freezing rain. Numerous traffic accidents occurred across western North Carolina and there was one fatality (indirect) on Interstate 26 in Polk county. A boat house in Alexander county collapsed under the weight of the sleet. A cooperative observer in Rutherford County estimated damage in his area to be $55K, but official damage estimates for the entire region were not available at the time of this writing. Freezing rain overspread western portions of central North Carolina during the afternoon of 01/02/99. The freezing rain began as sleet over the Winston-Salem and Greensboro areas but changed to freezing rain by evening. The sleet did accumulate up to 2 inches in western and northern Forsyth county before the change to glaze occurred. Elsewhere, glaze accumulated to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. The eastern extent of the freezing rain extended from near Badin Lake to Burlington to Roxboro. East of this line...some light freezing rain fell before quickly changing to rain as warmer air spread northwest from the Atlantic Ocean. There was quite a temperature gradient with this storm. As warm Atlantic air was pulled into the storm, temperatures warmed from the lower 30s at Raleigh at 2 pm on the 2nd into the lower 60s overnight on the 3rd. This shrunk the freezing rain coverage over central North Carolina to the far western counties of the Piedmont-Triad. In the freezing rain area, the temperatures warmed from the lower 20s to the lower 30s during the same time. This kept the ice storm going from mid afternoon on the 2nd through the early morning hours on the 3rd. There were numerous reports of downed tree limbs and power lines which caused significant power outages in the western Piedmont. There were also hundreds of accidents reported throughout the Piedmont. An area from near Shelby into northwest Gaston County was especially hard hit and locals said it was the worst ice storm in 45 years.
Injuries	not available	Deaths	not available
Property Damage	not available	Crop Damage	not available
Atmospheric Maps	Large-scale maps of 500 mb Heights, Jet Stream Winds, and Sea Level Pressure from this event
Weather Station Data Snow   Sleet   Freezing Rain   Rain   Mix
X Hourly Data Daily Data Total Snowfall Total Precipitation Primary Precip. Type Minimum Temperature Maximum Wind Speed