There were still eggs, baby snacks and two small generators at Kwadwo Som-Pimpong’s house on Saturday in Asheville, N.C., where a winter storm last weekend threatened to potentially knock out power and trees. In the end, his home and much of the state were spared from those icy hazards.
Now, Mr. Som-Pimpong and his 1-year-old son once again had on their thickest jackets and gloves, watching fluffy snow drape the mountains, as another winter storm coated their world in white. But as cold, puffy flakes fell on the toddler’s cheeks, his reaction reflected the opinions of Carolinians fed up with their unusual burst of frigid temperatures.
“His face was just neutral,” Mr. Som-Pimpong said. “It’s like he’s saying, ‘Get me out of here.’”
No matter the winter fatigue, especially after many people’s fruitless search for dwindling supplies of salt, another round of bitterly cold weather was settling across North and South Carolina on Saturday, bringing several inches of snow, gusty winds and dangerous road conditions. For many, it was also spurring excitement about statewide snow days.
From the mountains out west to beach towns along the eastern coastline, officials in the Carolinas warned residents about the latest burst of Arctic temperatures that threatened to cause blizzard-like conditions in some areas over the weekend.
Power outages were possible, especially with a second band of snow expected to hit both states on Saturday afternoon. Strong tides and powerful winds could cause flooding in some parts of North Carolina’s coast, especially the Outer Banks, officials said. And temperatures were expected to sink to below 20 degrees or into the single digits on Saturday night for much of North Carolina and persist through Sunday morning, meaning the snow will most likely stick around through at least early next week.
“Our greatest concern is unsafe travel,” said Gov. Josh Stein of North Carolina, noting that the state’s Department of Transportation employees had been working up to 100-hour weeks to keep roads clear since last week.
Every county in the Carolinas was under a winter storm warning through at least early Sunday morning. By late Saturday morning, several inches of snow had pummeled much of western North Carolina, the Charlotte area and the Upstate parts of South Carolina, which includes Greenville and Spartanburg. Emergency management officials in both states have warned residents that driving conditions had already deteriorated by Saturday morning.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said that there had been 176 collisions from midnight through 9 a.m. on Saturday, and that none of them were fatal.
“Here we go again,” the agency said on social media.
In South Carolina, the Highway Patrol said that a collision was affecting traffic on I-85, a major interstate. The agency shared a photo of the accident showing nearly whiteout conditions, with vehicles packed in tight rows.
“Slow down and use extreme caution,” the Highway Patrol said. “Stay off roads if possible.”
During the sprawling storm last weekend that paralyzed a huge stretch of the country, officials were most concerned about accumulating ice, which can easily down trees and power lines.
This storm does not pose as great a risk of ice accumulation, and it is a more focused threat to the East Coast. But it still carries the potential to lash the Northeast with strong winds and additional snow. Its primary target appears to be the coastal areas of the Carolinas, where significant, and possibly historic, amounts of snow could fall. Along the coast in North Carolina, snowfall totals could reach as much as 10 inches by Saturday evening.
As of early Saturday afternoon, parts of western North Carolina had gotten between four and nine inches of snow.
In the afternoon, light snow had started falling in parts of Wilmington, N.C., and was expected to become heavier through the day. The coastal city is predicted to receive five to eight inches of snow in the storm. Winter storms that bring snow are unusual here. The last time the city recorded more than five inches of snow was in December 1989.
“It’s a very rare type of event for us, but all the meteorological elements are coming into alignment,” said Stephen Keebler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
At Bert’s Surf Shop on Carolina Beach, near Wilmington, Joel Avery was managing the store, taking things easy on “a very quiet day.”
He had not rushed out to buy food and emergency supplies this week, as plenty of others had, filling grocery aisles with carts and forming lines at hardware stores.
“I think we’ll be all right,” he said.
What he was curious about was whether the storm would have any effect on the waves. If it did, he was sure at least a handful of locals would rush out in their wetsuits, sloshing their feet in a snowy-sandy mixture. “If there are waves, they’ll be out there,” he said.
All of this snow is from a storm that was intensifying Saturday afternoon off the coast of the Carolinas.
The storm is expected to stay offshore, moving to the east-northeast over the Atlantic Ocean through the weekend. By Sunday evening, it will be several hundreds of miles off the coast of Massachusetts.
“It won’t bring snow to any of the major cities in the Northeast, like New York or Boston, it’ll just be cold,” said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. “There may be a little snow in Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket.”
The storm has been referred to as a “bomb cyclone,” a term used by meteorologists to assess the strength of a storm by its barometric pressure. When the pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours, it’s generally considered a bomb cyclone. This is likely to occur with this storm.
“It’ll be a windier day on Sunday because of it,” Mr. Oravec said. “It’ll mean blizzard conditions in eastern North Carolina Saturday night into early Sunday morning.”
Other parts of the South were still paralyzed by the damage done by the previous swath of snow and ice last weekend. In Mississippi, parts of two major highways were closed to clear off ice, dozens of tree branches were still ensnarled in power lines and the death toll had risen to 16. In northeast Louisiana, the local United Way charity said there was a 400 percent increase in calls for assistance in the last week, with residents pleading for help in the cold.
And in Nashville, tens of thousands still remained without power, as officials scrambled to provide discounted or free lodging, as well as to raise money for families still displaced or trapped in cold homes without heat or power. Officials at the Nashville Electric Service continued to face the brunt of anger across the city and state, without clear estimates of when power might return.
Back in Asheville, Mr. Som-Pimpong, a custom furniture maker and woodworker, was looking out the window with his family, seeing the tops of branches frosted white like a pastry.
“It’s the same window we saw the trees being torn apart and falling down during Hurricane Helene two years ago,” he said. “So now we’re looking at it and seeing this peaceful scene.”
Soon, they would unwrap themselves from blankets and get ready to take out their winter treat: chai spiced bread.
Emily Cochrane contributed reporting from Nashville.
Eduardo Medina is a Times reporter covering the South. An Alabama native, he is now based in Durham, N.C.
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