good evening. here we are, thursday night. we talked about the storm all week and it will be here when you wake up tomorrow morning. and that is not going to be a snowstorm that brings us more snow than we've ever seen or more ice that we've ever seen. but it will bring us enough ice and snow and cold temperatures and wind happening pretty much all day during both major commute as it will cause a lot of -- commute that is going to cause a lot of problems. and that is why staying off the roads is probably the best advice. what a great day today, 40s and pain? and we're dry across north carolina. but it is this moisture that will move north and run into cold air and turn into sleet, freezing rain and snow and regular rain all happening in our area. maybe all at the same time. so because of that, most of our area with the exception of a few people east of i-95 are

that goes into eye infect in a effect in a couple hours and it will make travel dangerous. and all week long it's been cold and it continues to be cold outside right now. and the temperatures have dropped into the 30s. and that is not good because that is getting the concrete and the grass cold when we get that frozen precipitation, it is not going to land and melt. it's going to land and stick and freeze. and that will be where all of our problems will be. when you wake up in the morning, it will be here and start as snow for some of you and sleet or freezing rain. and it will happen between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. in moore and hope county. it will happen for the month just us between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. this is coming from the southwest. and after 6:00 a.m. for everyone else in the northeast. and it will last all day and maybe into the overnight hours.

2:00 and 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and lasting maybe till saturday night. the worst will be a half inch of ice. but the afternoon, most of the us about a quarter inch inch and snow totals, one to two five inches and we lots of school cancellations. to give you an idea of all of the timing of this we broke it down from rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. you can see it is going to start off with the frozen stuff, the freezing rain and sleet. very few of us getting rain friday morning through friday afternoon. as we get into the overnight hours, we're looking at just some freezing rain and sleet adding in the snow early saturday morning and then this ends as a snow event. coming up in a few minutes, we'll go in depth the snow total map.

total map and we'll look ahead for some fun stuff like is this going to be around for the panther's game on sunday? this has prompted governor mccrory to declare a state of emergency. and beau minnick is live in wake county where thousands of duke energy workers are on standby. >> reporter: across the carolinas, more than 4,000 line workers are ready to go in the event of power outages. some of them coming from as far as away as florida. i'll take a step out of way so our photographer dan can give you a look. they're waiting to find out where the trouble spots will be. >> winter has fine day arrived in north carolina. >> reporter: and the governor is detailing the state's plans

dose of winter. >> it is all hands on deck right now. >> reporter: more than 4,000 duke energy workers should ice hit the power lines and the forecast is for more than two tenth of an inch of ice and it only takes a quarter of an inch to bring down tree limbs. >> stay away from the power lines. >> reporter: if you lose power it is a good idea to turn off as many appliances and electronics as possible and it will help them restore power more quickly. for now, everyone is in the holding pattern waiting to see what happen. >> there's a lot of uncertainty with this storm. so we'll have to see what mother nature brings. >> reporter: other hints, it is a good idea to charge up as many devices as you can and have plenty of bottled water, battery and nonperishable food.

flashlight in case you do lose power. if you loss power report it is the 1800 power on. and we'll have the phone number on our website, wncn.com. live in raleigh, beau minnick, wncn news now. d.o.t. crew have been on the roads across the state. no problems now but that is expected to change quickly. amy cutler is in the mobile news tracker in wake county with the message that d.o.t. leaders want you to hear. >> reporter: the message is they are prepared. and the roads are in good condition. let's take a live look out there. we're along the beltline here. and we're just coming up to exit 2. a spokesman for the d.o.t. late this afternoon saying they finished up the roads and that is that salt water mixture that

telling us they have 3200 especially trained employees and hundreds of truck as trucks that will be used for snow and ice removal. another problem are abandoned cars. and authorities said if they pile up, they will be towing them. and if that happens to you, here's what you need to know. >> if you happen to leave your vehicle on the shoulder of the roadway and it's gone, if it is towed by the highway patrol, we set up a site on our website and you can look and it will tell you we towed your vehicle and where you can locate it. >> reporter: and they are advising drivers to use common sense and go slower and use additional time and stay off the roads, if you can. while you may feel comfortable driving in the snow and ice,

and that is the importance -- the importance of staying over the roads if you can. and workers are preparing sidewalks and streets and roads. and our coverage continues with mario boone. >> reporter: let me show you the durham freeway over there. it is moving normal for this time of year and that is stayville street -- fayetteville street. and the big concern is what will happen once the snow and ice arrives. >> stay off the roads. >> reporter: a nasty winter storm barrels towards the triangle with the potential to do major damage here. that is why durham city public works is loading snow trucks to battle a forecasted mix of snow and ice expected to hit late thursday night. >> we have about 30 trucks with plows and spreaders ready to go. >> reporter: public works

city crews are on standby and a fresh crop of workers will report in at midnight. across town at durham county, 40 workers on 12 hour shifts have been activated. >> reporter: and they just went into emergency mode and rolled out 80 sleeping mattes for the homeless as the temperatures dip below freezing. >> we want to make sure that no one gets hurt or dies. >> reporter: here on fayetteville street, we want to pass along that most of the area schools closed tomorrow, including durham public schools and we have been in contacts all day with city and county workers and they tell us that they plan to work as long as as possible to keep the roads clear. you can stay up to date with the road conditions by going to wncn.com.

boone, wncn now. cumberland county is expected to feel the impact as well. and we continue with nature rogers. >> reporter: to show you the impact of water and the temperatures begin to less someone fayetteville, the water from this fountain is already beginning to freeze. and it is thick and cold. and the officials tell us that the exact impact of snow in the area is still questionable at this time. and they are warning residents to be careful. 20 snowplows will hit the cumberland county roads this evening and department transportation officials said that the number one priority is pretreating bridges and they'll focus on clearing primary and secondary roads. and residents are prepping as well. they are stock up on shovels, salt and other necessities. >> i hope we get just plain rain. but i'm going to be prepped in case.

and more than enough food. >> reporter: and talk about food, grocery stores are receiving more traffic. the demand for basic essentials it high. >> we ran out of milk, we have run out of meat and bread for today. >> reporter: normally, the shelf is fully stocked with bread. it is almost bare now and they sold about 150 loaves as people are preparing for the storm in the first couple hours. this man drove all the away from chapel hill to fill his refrigerator up. >> you never know what to expect from a storm. so you may get what you can while you can. you can never predict mother nature. >> reporter: in addition to all of the closings and cancellations announced at the top of the newscast, the city

flights in and out of -- fay fayetteville regional airport will be canceled tomorrow. we want you to know if you find yourself without power at any point during the storm, we'll be streaming updates that you can watch about current conditions on your mobile device. it seems like the officials want you to be safe on the roadways and in your home. >> he's not there. >> the passage this family hopes to share as we all deal with the cold temperatures and the threat of power outages. first a check on traffic conditions. no weather problems tonight. but we expect the roads to be a mess tomorrow this is 40 and i540. it is busy and the traffic is

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the family of a man that died of carbon monoxide wants you to be alert as reprepare for the storm. >> she all inspilled the family came first. >> reporter: it's been almost a year since walter was found dead in his home. >> i miss him.

monoxide poisoning after using a generator to heat his house after losing power. >> we're suffering that loss but it is a greater loss because of how he died. >> reporter: he was one of hundreds of people killed in carbon monoxide poisoning in 2015. fire officials said it may be temping to bring a generator inside but they urging you not to because it can be deadly. >> i'll do some cooking and heat the house up at the same time that is a bad idea. large amounts of carbon monoxide are produced by these products. >> reporter: fire officials said that you may install carbon monoxide and alarks. it -- alarms. it is a message that melvin's family want to get across. >> think twice before you bring a generator into a house. ask your family and friends, go

the doors could be open for you. >> reporter: david hurst, wncn now. >> millions along the east coast from the carolinas to the northeast preparing for all types of weather. >> parts of have virginia could see up to two feet of snow. and it is expected to shut down operations for several days. >> and washington d.c. got hit with snow and ice last night forcing them to abandon cars. one thing about this storm coming friday and saturday it is not going to be and all snow event and we get into the weekend and we have this snow on the ground that we can play in and there will be some snow and i think it will what about i call a fun snow day because tomorrow is going to be rather miserable. not only do we have the snow and ice, it will be windy and it is barely going to get above

so i don't think it will be a fun day tomorrow. and i think it will be a netflix friday. look at all of that moisture and that is going to move over north carolina and turn into several other type it's of precipitation before -- types of precipitation before it moves out. so a winter storm warning is in effect for most of the area. and because of the ice and snow, making travel difficult. so that in effect from midnight till 6:00 p.m. saturday. so after that is when we'll sound the all clear and when we think it will be safe to do your regular traveling. but it is still cold outside. and we had a couple days this week that we did not get out of the 30s. so the cololair is still looked in here and we had sunshine and 40s here and it is still in the 30s and going forward tonight, we're going to drop into the 20s. and i'm going skip tonight's forecast. here's what we want to talk about. so 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, it will be 26 degrees. everyone is going to be below freezing.

the teens in some spots so that will not be fun. and you add in the fact that the moisture is going to start to move in and it will start as snow, sleet and freezing rain and it will move and hit everyone by mid-morning and it will stick around all day long. there maybe some times where it lets up a bit and there are times when it is going to be freezing rain and switch to snow and back to sleet. it will be that type of gradient. and look at the temperatures barely above freezing and the windchills in the 20s. and you add in the winds that hour. you throw a 25-mile-an-hour wind on the tree limb with ice and it goes down on the power lines. so all type it's of precipitation could fall tomorrow, maybe all in one county from snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. this is what i'm worried about.

most of the atmosphere is above freezing and it gets closer to the ground and it freezes because we're below freezing. and saturday will be a snow event. but it could hamper our travel issues. so here we are at 3:00 a.m. and it is just now moving in. and it will start at snow and quickly turn to sleet and freezing rain and move into the triangle by 5:00 and 6:00. it's mainly a snow event by the virginia boarder. you can see you guys in sampson and wayne county more of a rain event and we get into friday afternoon and the low pressure starts to bring in a little warmer air and it starts to bring friday night to rain and we get on the back edge of the system saturday and more cold air and we get a little light snow. and this will be light stuff and maybe a couple of inches

what we think will fall to the ground as snow. this is mainly going to be late friday into saturday. south and southeast of the triangle not really an exciting snow event, one to three in wake and three to five in durham and orange county and you go a little to the northwest and it will get ugly with maybe up to ten inches or more. the ice, the worst of it west of the triangle. the quarter inch of ice with our winds that could cause big problems. and look at some of the computer models. i put them all in here. some of them are going crazy with snow in the triangle. but we're thinking more of the one to three inches. if someone asks you how much snow are we going to get? tell them wes said that we're going get one to three maybe one to five. the 7-day forecast snow and ice tomorrow and we start to clear

still got 50s as we head into next week. rain is in the forecast, small chances tuesday and wednesday. so the three degree high tomorrow 33 today and 44. that teams like a heatwave. we were right ton and another 100 for our friends at the duke home care and hospice out traveling in this weather taking care of their patients. they have volunteers helping to take care of people in the

this is the is the scene that we saw a lot today, people stocking up on water, food, bread and basic supplies. if you see empty shelves take a photo and e-mail to us. you can tweet us or sharing on our facebook page. >> something else that we want you to know. college basketball games, duke is still scheduled to play at nc state on saturday afternoon and. nc is scheduled to play at virginia tech in blacksburg virginia sunday, and area expected to receive a foot of

and the decisions will come thank you for joining us.

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