Weather

State and weather officials gave tips about how to ready for severe weather during the annual statewide tornado drill.

Much of central North Carolina – from north of Fayetteville, to Greensboro, to Rocky Mount – is under a Level 3 Enhanced Risk for severe weather, according to the National Weather Service’s scale.

The U.S. Drought Monitor says a swath of Eastern North Carolina from Tarboro to Southport is in “severe drought.”

The storm could cause travel problems and power outages across a wide part of the Eastern United States from late Friday through early next week. The system is referred to by some as an ominous-sounding "bomb cyclone."

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed a state of emergency earlier this week and said 114 National Guard troops were staging in central and eastern North Carolina to prepare to move to the affected areas.

Forecasters predict the storm will arrive as mixed precipitation on Thursday, followed by a round of snow on Friday night into Saturday. The winter blast could ice over a large swath of eastern North Carolina and the northeastern corner of South Carolina, while dumping snow on the Norfolk, Virginia, area.

A winter storm watch is in effect for this weekend with snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain is expected across central North Carolina starting Saturday through Sunday evening.

In North Carolina, heavy rain and powerful wind gusts from a winter storm system have led to power outages, school closures, and delayed openings for COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites.

The National Weather Service is predicting a warmer and drier winter for North Carolina this year. That's due in part to La Nina, as well as rising temperatures from global warming.

(8:30 p.m. Tuesday) U.S. 19/23 is closed in both directions due to a landslide near Bridge Road near Canton, and N.C. Department of Transportation...