Winter Storms

Introduction

North Carolina winter weather consists of storms that produce snow, sleet, freezing rain or a wintry mix of multiple precipitation types. It is not uncommon to experience every mode of wintry precipitation in any given storm, due to the nature and atmospheric conditions that are commonly found in NC winter storms.

Along with wintry precipitation, NC winter weather also includes outbreaks of bitterly cold, Arctic air that can send overnight lows well into the teens and even single digits! Monthly average temperatures are the coldest in January. However, it is not uncommon to see these values much higher or lower depending on the weather pattern.

CityNormal January High TemperatureNormal January Low Temperature
Boone41.4°F21.6°F
Raleigh51.9°F31.8°F
Wilmington57.2°F36.3°F
Above are the coldest average high and low temperatures (which occur in mid-January) for Boone (located in the mountains), Raleigh (located in the Piedmont), and Wilmington (located at the coast) which illustrates the amount of variation in temperatures across the state in winter.

Products

Winter Storm Database

Searchable database of North Carolina winter storms that provides event details, along with links to associated weather data

Precipitation Types

Learn the differences between snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain

Weather Patterns

Learn about weather patterns that are favorable for winter weather for North Carolina

Resources

Contacts

For questions or technical assistance about the content or products above, please contact help@climate.ncsu.edu.