**A Look Back at the Winter Storms Affecting Central North Carolina
During the 2003-2004 Winter Season**

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**Overview**

The 2003-2004 winter season will be remembered as a rather stormy and
snowy year across central North Carolina. Numerous winter storms
threatened and impacted the region. Raleigh (RDU) had 11 days with a
trace or more of snow (7 days had measurable snow.) Greensboro (GSO) had
11 days with a trace or more of snow (including 6 days with measurable
snow.)

Raleigh reported 14.9 inches of snow during the 2003-2004 winter season,
this marked the sixth snowiest season ever at RDU (see figure 1 below).
Charlotte (CLT) reported 14.5 inches of snow which was the fourth
snowiest season ever at CLT (see figure 2 below).

On the following pages you will find information on the significant
winter storms that affected central North Carolina during the 2003-2004
season. A brief summary or overview of the storm along with an
appropriate accumulation map of the storm is shown. A surface map is
also provided for a snap shot view of the weather pattern.

The information is not intended for technical audiences but rather for
our users who desire a quick look back at the winter.

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**Figure 1 --** seasonal snowfall totals at Raleigh (the Raleigh-Durham
International Airport)

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**Figure 2 --** seasonal snowfall totals at Charlotte (the
Charlotte-Douglas international Airport)

**December 04-05, 2003 Event...**

A highly amplified upper air pattern developed over the U.S. during the
first week of December 2003. A significant trough was located over the
eastern U.S. with a ridge across the west. A storm system in the
southern branch of the jet stream moved across California and then east
through the Rockies. The polar jet stream dropped south over the eastern
states allowing cold air to move into the Mid Atlantic states ahead of
the approaching storm. At the surface, a cold air damming high moved
over Pennsylvania during the 3^rd^ and 4^th^, allowing cold dry air to
be pushed south into central North Carolina. At the same time a weak
storm system moved from the southern plains to the central Gulf coast.
During the 4^th^ and 5^th^, this storm system moved up the Southeast
U.S. coast and then out to sea east of Cape Hatteras on the 5^th^. Heavy
wet snow developed over the N.C. Mountains early on the 4^th^ then
changed to sleet and freezing rain late in the day. The precipitation
began as a mix of snow and sleet across the Piedmont, but then changed
to freezing rain mixed with rain. Behind the storm, temperatures
remained in the 30s for 3 consecutive days during and after the storm
across much of western and central N.C.

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**December 13-14, 2003 Event...**

A split upper flow pattern over the central and eastern U.S. developed
during the 12^th^ and 13^th^ of December. The polar jet extended over
the Great Lakes into New England, with a strong subtropical jet noted
from the Desert Southwest region of the U.S. across to the Southeast. A
cold and strong (1032 MB) surface high was anchored over New England on
the 12^th^. As a disturbance associated with the subtropical jet moved
out of the Southern Plains toward North Carolina, a surface low
developed over the northwestern Gulf of Mexico early on the 13^th^. A
large shield of precipitation spread across Texas and the Gulf Coast
States toward North Carolina.

Late on the 13^th^, snow and sleet had already developed across the
North Carolina Mountains and spread east into the Piedmont as a surface
low pressure moved along the Gulf Coast. The low pressure system reached
southern Georgia early on the 14^th^, as another low pressure system
rapidly developed near Wilmington.

Precipitation across the northwest mountains and foothills changed to
sleet during the evening. The sleet that was falling across the western
Piedmont changed to freezing rain during the evening and overnight
hours. Rain fell across the remainder of the Piedmont and eastern North
Carolina.

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**December 13-14, 2003 Event (continued) ...**

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**January 9, 2004 Event...**

Very cold arctic air spilled south into the eastern U.S. on January
5^th^and 6^th^ as an upper trough centered over the Plains states
shifted east. The leading edge of the arctic air, marked by a cold
front, pushed off the N.C. coast on the morning of January 6^th^, ending
a period of unusually warm weather across most of N.C. The warm weather
was replaced by very cold temperatures on the 7^th^ and 8^th^ with high
temperatures remaining below freezing across the mountains and in the
30s to lower 40s across the remainder of N.C.

A disturbance in the polar jet stream over the Northern Plains states on
8^th^, moved southeast into the Tennessee Valley on the 9^th^. A weak
surface low developed east of Appalachians near Greenville-Spartanburg,
SC early on the 9^th^ and then moved across southern N.C. during the
day. Snow developed across the mountains and overspread much of the
state on the 9^th^ before quickly tapering off late in the day. Very
cold air followed behind the storm as temperatures dipped into the
single digits and teens on the morning of the 11^th^. Despite a lot of
sunshine, high temperatures remained below freezing across nearly all of
the state with the exception of the immediate coast on the 11^th^.

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**January 25-27, 2004 Event...**

An arctic cold front pushed south across N.C. late on the 25^th^ and
early on the 26^th^ of January. Across the Piedmont high temperatures
reached the upper 50s to around 60 on the afternoon of 25^th^ but fell
into the 20s by midnight on the 26^th^. A surface low developed on the
arctic cold front across the Southern Plains, as a strong upper level
trough over the Rockies moved east. The surface low moved across the
southeast and then offshore on the 26^th^. A second low pressure system
coming out of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico moved up the Southeast
coast on the 27^th^.

Snow rapidly developed over the Mountains and the southwestern Piedmont
during the 25^th^, and then spread east. As warmer air surged into the
region at mid levels of the atmosphere, the snow changed to sleet from
south to north during the afternoon and early evening of the 26^th^. The
precipitation eventually changed to freezing rain across eastern and
southeastern N.C. late on the 26^th^ before ending on the 27^th^.

Snow accumulations were greatest across far northern and northwestern
N.C. where the precipitation fell primarily as snow. Freezing rain
accumulated between : of an inch to 1 inch across interior portions of
southeastern N.C. Many trees and power lines were downed in areas near
Whiteville, Elizabethtown and Burgaw.

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**January 25-27, 2004 Event (continued) ...**

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**February 2-3, 2004 EventY**

Cold air damming was well established over N.C. on February 2 as a 1032
MB surface high was located over the Northeastern U.S. Meanwhile, an
upper level disturbance in the southern branch of the jet stream was
moving across the Central U.S. with a weak low pressure system over the
lower Mississippi Valley. As the upper level disturbance approached the
Appalachians early on the 3^rd^, a low pressure system redeveloped over
the N.C. Piedmont. Generally light snow fell across the central and
northern Mountains, with some snow as far east as the Triad region.
Across northwestern N.C., the snow changed to freezing rain before
ending while the precipitation south and east of the mountains changed
to freezing rain and then all rain.

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**February 5-6, 2004 EventY**

On February 5^th^, a cold high pressure system centered over the Great
Lakes region extended south into the Carolinas. An upper level
disturbance was located over western Kansas with a weak low pressure
system developing over Texas and Louisiana. On the morning of the 6^th^,
the low pressure system had moved northeast into the Ohio Valley while a
coastal front was moving west across the coastal plain of the Carolinas.

By the early morning hours of the 6^th^, freezing rain had developed
over the northern and central Mountains and the Northwest Piedmont.
During the morning, the freezing rain quickly changed to rain across the
Piedmont with freezing rain changing to a mix of rain and freezing rain
across the Foothills. Freezing rain continued to fall for much of the
day across the northern and central mountains. Up to ¾ of an inch of
freezing rain accumulated across portions of the Mountains resulting in
downed tree limbs, trees, and power lines.

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**February 12, 2004 Event...**

A very active southern branch of the jet stream brought a period of
active weather across the Southeast U.S. during the second and third
week of February. An area of low pressure developed along the Gulf Coast
early on the 12^th^ while a weak surface high was moving off the New
Jersey coast.

Snow developed across the mountains and Northwestern Piedmont early on
the 12^th^. Generally light precipitation spread east across the central
and eastern N.C. during the day. The precipitation generally fell as
rain east of the mountains, but it occasionally mixed with and briefly
changed to snow during bursts of moderate precipitation. Snow
accumulations were mainly limited to the mountains, with some locations
across the Foothills, Piedmont and Sandhills getting a dusting of snow.

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**February 15-16, 2004 Event**

A significant winter storm affected the state on the 14^th^ and 15^th^
of February. A strong upper level low in the southern branch of the jet
stream moved east across Mississippi and Alabama on the 14^th^, then
across N.C. on the 15^th^. An arctic high pressure system nosed south
from Minnesota into N.C. on the 14^th^ as precipitation moved into the
state. The precipitation tapered off during the evening of the 15^th^.

The precipitation fell predominately as snow with the greatest
accumulations across the northern sections of the state. The snow
accumulations were variable due to some snow banding.

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**February 17, 2004 Event...**

The storm system that affected the region earlier in the week was
lingering offshore on the 17^th^. A cold high pressure system extended
south from New England south into the Carolinas. A moist southwesterly
flow aloft transported moisture into the region at mid and upper levels
of the atmosphere.

A disturbance in the southern jet stream moved northeast from Florida
into eastern North Carolina on the 17^th^. Snow developed over the
Southern Piedmont before dawn on the 17^th^ then spread rapidly
northeast across the eastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain before tapering
off during the early afternoon. Snowfall amounts of 1 to 1.5 inches were
common from Sanford northeast to Henderson.

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**February 26-27, 2004 Event...**

The most significant winter storm of the season occurred on February
26^th^ and 27^th^. This storm arrived in two waves; the first wave
primarily impacted the southern and southeastern sections of the state
during the morning and early afternoon hours of the 26^th^. The second
wave arrived during the evening of the 26^th^ across western and
southwestern portions of the state and then spread east late on the
26^th^ and into the morning of the 27^th^ across much of the Foothills
and Piedmont.

Snow, moderate to heavy at times, spread north from S.C. into southern
N.C. during the predawn hours on the 26^th^. Significant snow fell for
several hours across the southern Piedmont and Sandhills during the
morning. Generally light snow fell across the Piedmont, Foothills and
Mountains. The snow spread slowly northward and diminished in intensity
during the morning, its northward progress inhibited by a very dry
atmosphere across northern N.C. The snow was diminishing during the late
afternoon as it finally reached portions of the northern Piedmont and
northern coastal plain.

During the late afternoon, a second area of snow was developing across
southwestern N.C. ahead of an upper level low pressure system. Heavy
convective snow bands developed ahead of this feature as it moved slowly
northeast across the southwestern Piedmont during the evening. The
convective bands dumped 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour across portions
of Davidson, Randolph, Stanly, Forsyth, Guilford, and Alamance counties.
Storm totals reached as high as 18-22 inches across portions of
Davidson, Stanly, southwestern Guilford, southern Forsyth, and
Montgomery counties.

As the system slowly pushed east through the central Piedmont overnight,
the snow gradually decreased in areal coverage and intensity. The
precipitation rates became light by daybreak on the 27^th^ across much
of central and eastern N.C. Lingering light precipitation, a mix of rain
and sleet across the Piedmont and just rain across locations east of the
Piedmont fell for much of the morning before tapering off to drizzle by
afternoon.

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**February 26-27, 2004 Event (continued) ...**

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