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  • 2 hours ago
Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer described blizzard conditions along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with intense snow bands, blowing snow, strong winds and road closures overnight.
Transcript
00:00Overnight last night, the conditions really deteriorated as those snow bands were coming in.
00:04They were almost convective in nature.
00:06There was gruffles, soft hail with them, very heavy snow.
00:09And then the winds really picked up, gusting over 40 miles an hour for a very long time all night.
00:15And still this morning, it's very windy as well.
00:18I saw drifts of three to four feet.
00:20We had well over a foot when I went to sleep late last night, and we had a lot more last night.
00:26So I bet we're pushing 18 inches, but it is very difficult to measure because it's blowing all over the place.
00:31And as soon as I came into Jacksonville, North Carolina last night, I saw an accident that closed the road.
00:37And then I came down to Emerald Isle, and those northerly winds were just funneling between the islands.
00:43So definitely one of the more potent storms that I've ever chased out here, especially in this region.
00:49And the wind continues out here.
00:51A lot of people are snowed in, and it was very persistent last night.
00:55I saw in the warm sector, there were supercell storms with the bomb cyclone out over the open ocean.
01:01So all of that heat and moisture was feeding the snow event, and the temperatures plummeted last night into the teens.
01:07So certainly life-threatening conditions out here at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
01:12And, Reid, this has to be, from an extreme standpoint, one of the most extreme events in that part of North Carolina, Emerald Isle.
01:21Well, at times, did we reach blizzard criteria?
01:27I believe so.
01:28I've chased a lot of blizzards out here, and it certainly felt like a blizzard with the persistence of the winds over hours, coupled with the heavy snow and the visibility.
01:37So it definitely felt like a blizzard last night.
01:41And even into the storming, ground blizzard conditions continue out here.
01:45So this is a very significant event out there.
01:49If you could see some of my footage from last night, it was crazy.
01:52The wind was so powerful, funneling between the islands out there.
01:56And it definitely felt like a blizzard in terms of the life-threatening conditions out there, the rain field temperatures, the winds, the visibility.
02:05So definitely a very impactful storm, as you know.
02:09And I followed your forecast.
02:11I came out here, and that's where the biggest snow happened, right in the Jacksonville area, out toward Emerald Isle, it looks like.
02:17Yeah, we talked about two epicenters with the upper low, I-85, and then the coastal storm.
02:24Reid Timmer, always in the right spot.
02:26Dr. Reid Timmer, thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Weekend.
02:29Thanks to you, Bernie.
02:29Thanks to you, Bernie.
02:29Thanks to you, Bernie.
02:29Thanks to you, Bernie.
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