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North Carolina Braces For More Ice, Rain With Winter Storm

Ice is expected to blanket several areas in the Triad region on Thursday. MEL EVANS/AP

Most of the Piedmont is under a Winter Storm Warning until 7 a.m. Friday. Freezing rain and sleet will create slick travel conditions Thursday. Emergency officials say downed trees and power lines are also a concern.

Jimmy Taeger, a meteorologist with The National Weather Service in Raleigh, says the system will bring what's called cold air damming into the region. It's when a layer of cold air gets trapped. He says that will impact how much ice the area sees.

“The mountains, the upper level of the mountains, are going to be warmer than what it's going to be in parts of the Triad — because the cold air is going to be stuck at the surface,” says Taeger. “So it's interesting to keep the Triad colder because of that, but it's also going to be more of a mess when it comes to freezing rain.”

Officials with the North Carolina Department of Transportation say rain creates challenges with brining roads before ice hits. But agency spokesperson Aaron Moody says crews are prepared. They will work in shifts overnight and in the morning to treat the roads. Moody says they will focus on primary and interstate roads first.

“If you don't have to go out, don't,” says Moody. “And if you do, just be mindful of how dangerous it is and be mindful of the other people around you and the crews that are out there working that are going to be out there doing their best to take care of any trouble spots as soon as possible.”

He says NCDOT will have more than 26,000 tons of salt on hand between Divisions 7 and 9, which cover most of the northern Triad counties up to the Virginia line between Stokes and Caswell counties.

Duke Energy is also on high alert. The company is adding more resources to respond to potential power outages expected from the incoming winter storm.

More than 1,000 line workers have been called in to assist from Florida and the Midwest. The company says this is in addition to around 300 that are already stationed in the area.

Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks says crews have been restoring power to thousands of customers across the state who lost power over Valentine's weekend, but this storm poses some different challenges.

“You have trees that are weakened and ground that's still saturated from the previous storm,” he says. “So you have a lot of conditions there that make it likely we will see outages. Statewide, we are looking at a multi-day restoration most likely with this storm.”

Brooks urges Duke Energy customers to prepare as much as possible and to go through a personal checklist of emergency essentials in case of extended power outages.

The National Weather Service says most of the Triad could see around a half-inch of ice.

Meteorologists there say the precipitation will clear out on Friday. The weekend will be dry with temperatures in the 40s.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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