North Carolina, 2001

Sleet in North Carolina, February 22, 2001

February 22, 2001 · NWS GSP · 14 events in 14 counties and zones

Cold, dry air plunged south over western North Carolina following the passage of a cold front the day before. Moisture return began almost immediately thereafter, ahead of an advancing storm system from the Gulf Coast region, and as an upper level disturbance approached the area, precipitation became widespread.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 11 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
14

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

Cold, dry air plunged south over western North Carolina following the passage of a cold front the day before. Moisture return began almost immediately thereafter, ahead of an advancing storm system from the Gulf Coast region, and as an upper level disturbance approached the area, precipitation became widespread. Air was cold enough in the mountains to support mostly snow, while in the foothills and piedmont, the dry air in the lower levels of the atmosphere created ideal conditions for a sleet/snow mixture. In the mountains, thundersnow occurred.Snow accumulations ranged from 4 to 6 inches in a narrow swath from Newland to Bakersville, to Mount Mitchell, and southward to the high elevation foothill towns of Little Switzerland and Jonas Ridge. Elsewhere, accumulations ranged from 1 to 3 inches of snow and sleet, although as mentioned previously, snow was the predominant precipitation type across the higher terrain, with numerous traffic accidents reported. In the lower elevation foothill and piedmont, sleet was predominant, although most locations that received any wintry precipitation at all reported a sleet/snow mixture. Salisbury, Hickory and Mocksville each reported around an inch of sleet, and numerous icy roads, in addition to a light blanket of snow. This made for a horrific morning rush hour, with numerous accidents and school closures. The wintry precipitation tapered off from the west during the day.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 21, 11:33 PM EST, 3 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 21, 11:33 PM EST, 3 hours 27 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1133 PM EST WED FEB 21 2001

WL UPDATE ZONES TO GO CATEGORICAL POPS OVER THE UPSTATE AND THE
MOUNTAINS. H8 BNDRY IS BEGINNING TO ACTIVATE JUST SW OF THE CWA ATTM
00Z FFC SOUNDING WAS MOIST ADIABATIC ALL THE WAY UP...SO THE FEW
CG/S WE ARE GETTING IN NE GA SHOULD SPREAD INTO THE REGION. DESPITE
SFC DWPTS DROPPING INTO THE TEENS IN THE NE CWA...THE AREAS TO BE
AFFECTED BY PCPN FIRST...THE MTNS AND UPSTATE...ARE STILL RUNNING IN
THE 30S AND 40S...W/TEMPS STILL IN THE 40S AND 50S. THUS...THINK
P-TYPE PROBLEMS WILL HOLD OFF UNTIL AT LEAST AFTER THE 4 AM PACKAGE
AND WL NOT EXPAND ADVISORY. HOWEVER...IT IS A LITTLE DISCONCERTING
WITH THE AMOUNT OF UPSTREAM CONVECTION. SOMEBODY IS GOING TO SEE A
PERIOD OF HEAVY SLEET AND SNOW AS THIS ELEVATED MCS RIDES OVER THE
COLD DOME. I HOPE I/VE PLACED IT RIGHT WITH THE NRN MTNS WSW...BUT THE
MID SHIFT WL HAVE TO WATCH CLOSELY.

FCSTID = 14
GSP   40  42  36  60 /  90 100  20  10
AND   40  42  36  60 /  90 100  20  10
CLT   37  38  34  59 /  60 100  20  10
HKY   33  36  31  56 /  60 100  20  10
AVL   35  40  31  52 /  90 100  20  10

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY LATE TNGT AND WED MORNING
NCZ033-NCZ049-NCZ050.
SC...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 21, 10:19 PM EST, 4 hours 41 minutes before
NCZ034>037-048-051>059-062>072-082-221000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1019 PM EST WED FEB 21 2001

...WINTER WEATHER EXPECTED IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA THURSDAY...

COLD...DRY AIR AT THE SURFACE WILL SPREAD SOUTH ACROSS WESTERN NORTH
CAROLINA TODAY...WHILE MOISTURE ALOFT MOVES OVER THE AREA. THIS
COMBINATION WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WINTRY MIXTURE OF
PRECIPITATION. SNOW AND SLEET ARE EXPECTED IN THE NORTH CAROLINA
MOUNTAINS BY AS EARLY AS 3 AM THURSDAY...AND IN THE FOOTHILLS AND
PIEDMONT NORTH OF INTERSTATE 40 BY DAWN...WITH SLEET IN THE FOOTHILLS
AND PIEDMONT SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 40. BY LATE MORNING...FREEZING RAIN
MAY ENTER THE MIX IN THE AREA EAST OF INTERSTATE 77 AND NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 40...WHILE RAIN IS EXPECTED TO ENTER THE MIX IN THE REST
OF THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. RAIN WILL MIX WITH SNOW AND SLEET IN
THE MOUNTAINS BY AFTERNOON. THE PRECIPITATION WILL END DURING THE
AFTERNOON.

THIS WINTRY PRECIPITATION MIXTURE MAY CREATE HAZARDOUS DRIVING
CONDITIONS...ESPECIALLY THURSDAY MORNING. PEOPLE IN THE WESTERN
CAROLINAS SHOULD STAY INFORMED OF THE WEATHER. STAY TUNED TO NOAA
WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION.

JAT

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

14 sleet. Local standard time, as filed.

Sleet, Alexander

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Alexander forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.921, -81.177 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Buncombe

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Buncombe forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.611, -82.530 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Burke

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Burke forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

Sleet, Caldwell

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Caldwell forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

Sleet, Catawba

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Catawba forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.663, -81.214 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Cleveland

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Cleveland forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.334, -81.556 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Davie

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Davie forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.929, -80.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Henderson

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Henderson forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.336, -82.480 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Iredell

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Iredell forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.807, -80.873 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Lincoln

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Lincoln forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.486, -81.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Madison

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Madison forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.858, -82.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Rowan

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Rowan forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.640, -80.525 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sleet, Rutherford

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Rutherford forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

Sleet, Yancey

When
February 22, 3:00 AM EST to 3:00 PM EST
Where
Yancey forecast zone
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.899, -82.308 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Sleet
Sleet accumulating half an inch or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, February 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5232495, 5232496, 5232497, 5232498, 5232499, 5232500, 5232501, 5232502, 5232503, 5232504, 5232505, 5232506, 5232507, 5232508.