HOME          Favorite Storms Other Locations          Back to Winter Profile of Winston-Salem, NC

Heavy Snow

Northwest Piedmont, Foothills, and Mountains of North Carolina

December 08 to 10, 2018

Event summary

A deep southern tracking storm system dumped 10 or more inches in North Carolina generally west and north of Interstate 85. Snowfall frequently accumulated an inch or more per hour from late evening Saturday, December 8 through the morning of Sunday, December 10. Snow accumulated around 12 inches or more from Winston-Salem and Greensboro in the northwest Piedmont, southwest to Hickory in the central part of the Foothills, and then to Asheville in the southern part of the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains. Up to around 24 inches fell in the higher elevations of the mountains west of Winston-Salem and extending north into the state of Virginia. Lesser accumulations of snow, mixed with sleet and freezing rain, occurred as far east as the western edge of the Coastal Plain. Precipitation lingered from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning but was much lighter and in the form of mixed precipitation or switching back and forth between one precipitation type and another.

Radar - National Centers for Environmental Information

1 PM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



7 PM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



1 AM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 AM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



1 PM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 PM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



1 AM EST Monday, December 10, 2018



7 AM EST Monday, December 10, 2018



1 PM EST Monday, December 10, 2018

Surface analysis - National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center

Note the cold air damming process supplying cold air near the surface east of the Appalachian Mountains, specifically in the Foothills, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain. The high pressure ridge funneling the cold air south extended from a high pressure center that moved east from northern Illinois into Pennsylvania. The mountains themselves already appeared to have enough cold air to support snow.

7 AM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



7 PM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



7 AM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 PM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 AM EST Monday, December 10, 2018

Upper air (500 mb) - National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center

7 AM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



7 PM EST Saturday, December 08, 2018



7 AM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 PM EST Sunday, December 09, 2018



7 AM EST Monday, December 10, 2018