Snow, ice leave brief mess in NC mountains

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. — The snow caused a real mess on some of the secondary roads in the North Carolina mountains.   
        
 Because it was a heavy wet snow, it also had power crews scrambling for much of the day. 
 
Several inches of wet snow weighted down pine trees nearby knocking out the power and leaving JW Robinette looking for ways to stay warm. 
 
"I just turned on the tv to get the weather report and boom the power was gone.  You could see outside with so much snow and ice on the ground. It was like moonlit," Robinette said.
         
Just down the road power crews worked to get the power back on for dozens of people in an area of Alexander County. The transition over to rain this morning also was causing problems.   
 
"As the rain starts falling the snow starts to melt off and the limbs start to go back up slapping the lines back together," said Duke Energy lineman Brian Puett.
 
Farther south in Hickory, we saw less snow near Interstate 40 but more people on the roadway who ventured out trying to get to work. That led to more accidents like this one on highway 321 where just a little slush sent Alan Pruitt into the median. 
 
"I hit a patch of ice going 30 mph and lost all control so I just hung on for the ride and ran into the guardrail," Pruitt said.
     
Channel 9 did not see any serious accidents and the power is back on for all of those customers. Some other good news is that we don't expect refreezing tonight with temperatures staying above freezing.

WSOC