Press Release:
Good Afternoon Everyone,
Our office continues to monitor the development of this week's winter weather. This morning's update continued to shift the bulk of the forecasted precipitation south and east of our area. Current forecast details for Beaufort County include:
Cold Temperatures
- Below average temperatures and windchills are forecasted through Friday.
- Tuesday and Wednesday will be our coldest days, with daytime highs between 29 and 33 degrees (windchills of 20 to 25) and nighttime lows between 15 and 20 degrees (windchills of 10 and 15)
Extended Forecast for Washington, NC
Hourly Forecast for Tuesday & Wednesday
Snow / Winter Precipitation
- Precipitation is expected to move into eastern NC as snow around 9pm Tuesday night and continue through sunrise Wednesday, with most of our county receiving 1 to 2 inches.
- NOAA's Probabilistic Precipitation Portal can be viewed here. This link will allow you to zoom in to local areas of Eastern NC. (Note: This link does not work well with phone or other devices with small screens.)
- Our heaviest snowfall is expected to occur between 1am and 5am Wednesday morning.
8pm Tuesday - Snowfall Graphic
2am Wednesday - Snowfall Graphic
NWS Snowfall Graphic
Preparation Reminders
We encourage everyone to take the necessary precautions to safely protect you family, homes, and pets from these freezing temperature over the coming days. Recommended precautions include:
- Utilize safe heating practices in your home. (Only use UL approved space heaters. Ensure heaters are at least 3 feet away from furniture and other combustible items. Make sure that you have working smoke alarms. Homes that utilize gas appliances should also have working carbon monoxide alarms as well.)
- Ensure exposed plumbing fixtures are wrapped to prevent freezing and familiarize yourselves with the location of your water shutoffs and / or water meter so that any leaks can quickly be shut off.
- Ensure that outside pets and livestock have adequate shelter to protect them from wind, rain, or frozen precipitation. Also ensure that they continue to have access to water that is not frozen.
Please see the email below and attached briefing from the National Weather Service (NWS) for more details.
We encourage everyone to continue to monitor this developing forecast through the weekend and plan accordingly.
As always, thank you all for what you do to keep Beaufort County informed, prepared, and safe.
Chris Newkirk
Deputy Director
Beaufort County Emergency Services
1420 Highland Dr
Washington, NC 27889
Office: (252)940-6511
Cell: (252) 378-5352
Good afternoon,
Forecast confidence remains high that we will see some accumulating snow for portions of Eastern NC Tuesday evening into early Wednesday. Specific details like how much dry air will be in place to inhibit heavier snow totals and how strong the storm system gets are still uncertain. We still have quite a range in potential forecast outcomes. The majority of the models we use to forecast, along with surrounding NWS offices, match our first official forecast of a general 1" to 2" over much of the area. In a rare scenario, if the storm system is stronger than we currently forecast, a more substantial snow may impact our area. While this is still on the table, it is NOT LIKELY. We showed this WORSE CASE scenario, later in the attached briefing, to account for this.
Also, extremely cold weather will impact our area starting Monday night, and lasting through Thursday, where morning lows will be in the teens and wind chills in the single digits at times. Prolonged cold may cause issues with pipes and other sensitive infrastructure and if snow falls, it may linger for several days due to the extreme cold.
NWS_Morehead_City_Briefing_4_Winter_Weather_Jan_21_Jan_22_2025.pdf
Regards,
NWS Newport/Morehead City
NOAA - National Weather Service
Newport/Morehead City, NC Weather Forecast Office
533 Roberts Rd
Newport, NC 28570
