Snowstorm unfolds in the Outer Banks as winter storm grips the coast

As recovery from a historic ice storm continues across parts of the South, a dangerous winter weather threat is unfolding along the East Coast as a powerful bomb cyclone is bringing blizzard-like conditions to portions of the Carolinas and southern Virginia this weekend.

The storm comes as thousands across the South, including the Nashville area, remain without power after an ice storm knocked out electricity to more than a million customers and was blamed for dozens of deaths tied to extreme cold. More than 100,000 customers are still without power across Mississippi and Tennessee.

Snow began to fall across the region Friday night, with accumulations ramping up as snow intensified on Saturday night.

“Conditions are deteriorating rapidly,” Extreme Meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer said while near a snow-covered Interstate 85 near Spartanburg, South Carolina. Traffic was still moving, but slowed down considerably with some vehicles only traveling at 15 mph due to the snow.

Half a foot of snow was accompanied by extremely cold air in Asheville, North Carolina, with winds gusting to 40 mph and an AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature of 10 degrees below zero on Saturday afternoon.

Between 12 and 15 inches of snow was reported from Charlotte to Winston-Salem, North Carolina by Saturday night.

As the storm intensifies along the Atlantic Seaboard, blizzard conditions began to unfold from the northeastern Outer Banks to Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia. The main road on the Outer Banks, NC 12, has been shut down due to the storm. It is unclear when the road will reopen.

By Saturday night, winter conditions had contributed to 750 crashes in North Carolina, according to state troopers.

Northeast of Charlotte a more than 100-vehicle crash shutdown parts of Interstate 85 in Kannapolis. Snow and freezing temperatures slowed the clean up, and the National Guard was called into assist clearing the highway.

Out on the coast, parts of Carteret County had picked up several inches of snow by Saturday evening with reports of 5 to 7 inches coming from the National Weather Service Morehead City, which forecasts for the Outer Banks.

The NWS reported near white out conditions in Cape Carteret Saturday evening.

“Travel treacherous and potentially life-threatening especially if you become stranded,” the NWS said on X.

“When I tell people that I’m going to be on the Outer Banks, I certainly don’t expect it to be for snow, I expect for it to be for a tropical system,” Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby said while reporting from the North Carolina coast on Saturday morning.

Numerous accidents have been reported on snowy South Carolina roads. “Road conditions across the Upstate are steadily worsening, and weather-related incidents are piling up fast,” South Carolina Highway Patrol Community Relations Officer Mitchell Ridgeway said. “Stay home if at all possible.”

Flurries were reported as far south as the Florida Panhandle on Saturday, including near Tallahassee.

The heaviest snow will stay east of Nashville, but it will remain dangerously cold, as temperatures will stay in the teens and 20s through Sunday. Icy roads and hazardous conditions are expected to persist, further delaying power restoration efforts.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said three people died in the city due to the storm. “We know that too many Nashvillians will remain without power coming into another storm this weekend,” O’Connell said, encouraging those affected to seek alternative shelter before temperatures plunge again.

A pre-season NASCAR race scheduled for this weekend at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been postponed to Monday due to the snowstorm and bitterly cold air.

“The number one concern is always the safety of our competitors and our fans getting to and from the track,” NASCAR senior director of marketing services Justin Swilling said. “And in consulting with the North Carolina Department of Transportation this morning and the City of Winston-Salem, we didn’t feel [that] a Sunday schedule was best suited anymore.”

Officials in the Outer Banks announced beach closures ahead of the storm, including portions of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where 27 homes have collapsed since 2022 due to coastal erosion. Sixteen of those collapses occurred between September and October 2025 in the Buxton and Rodanthe communities.

This powerful storm will renew the risk for more homes to collapse into the ocean this weekend.

A Hurricane Force Wind Warning is in place for 100 nautical miles offshore from Cape Hatteras to Cape Fear.

Across the I-95 corridor and much of the Northeast, strong winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion are the primary concerns with this system.

New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., may miss out on accumulating snow, as those areas continue to clean up after last week’s winter storm dumped the most snow many locations have received in about five years.

AccuWeather experts estimate the total damage and economic loss from last week’s storm at between $105 billion and $115 billion.

“This is the harshest winter many Americans have faced in the past five to eight years. Relentless rounds of Arctic air outbreaks and blasts of wintry weather have been a dangerous and expensive combination,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys said. “Heating bills may be shockingly high for millions of people, from Texas to Tennessee and much of the East Coast.”

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