If you wish for snow, wish for winter landscapes, and pray for the calmness of falling flakes—and you live in an area from Raleigh to the Sandhills—you might think something isn’t right with your life.
The dreaded donut hole appears again. Dry tank. Here in this barren land, we observe the weather indirectly, looking at social media photos of our friends’ snow-covered porches, while our backyards are cold and dry.
Why is Raleigh the Charlie Brown of winter? Why do areas east and west often seem to get the meteorological equivalent of a full-sized Snickers bar, while we get a frozen rock?
A screenshot from National Weather Service radar at noon Saturday showed Raleigh between two snowfall zones, while the capital was in a snow-free zone. Forecasters say we’ll get our results when the two incoming weather systems finally collide.
(National Weather Service)
This is our location. Noting in the recruiting brochure that Raleigh is more or less between the mountains and the coast sounds great, but the location is perfect when you’re planning a vacation, but when weather systems collide it often leaves us in no man’s land.
“This is where the system is set up,” Chrissy Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, said Saturday morning as snowflakes were flying in the mountains, Charlotte and the beaches, but apparently not in Raleigh.
Diners at Kenley’s Waffle House watch the snow fall in Johnston County.
(Scott Sharpe/ssharpe@newsobserver.co)
Weather experts say the best conditions for snow in North Carolina are when cold air from the north and/or west meets moist air from the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. The larger these two systems are, the more widespread the snowfall will be.
People sledding at Cordelia Park on Saturday, January 31, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH/Knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com)
By noon Saturday, the Triangle had become North Carolina’s belly button, and the state was trying to fit shirt buttons that were too small over a stomach that was too wide. The ending is that they cannot meet.
The upper-level low that brings cold air to this storm is too far south and west, while the low-level low that brings moisture is still developing along the coast. Before they met, the weather in Raleigh was too dry for snow.
“Unfortunately, we can’t get anything until they get closer,” Anderson said.
Snow began to accumulate on the edges of Interstate 95 Saturday morning as drivers headed south near McCrow in Johnston County.
(Scott Sharpe/ssharpe@newsobserver.com)
The good news, at least for snow enthusiasts, is that collisions are still expected to happen, just later than expected. Anderson said snow should start falling in the Triangle area Saturday afternoon or evening.
Anderson said that because of the missed morning snowfall, snowfall totals in the area will be even lower: 2 to 5 inches less by the time the storm clears up Sunday. So keep your fingers crossed and get your newly purchased sled ready.
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