After the previous weekend's false alarm – which culminated in patches of ice across the region – everyone braced for what meteorologists were predicting would hit North Carolina late Friday.
Many woke up Saturday to the first widespread sight of snow in 2026. Reports across Graham County ranged between 3-8 inches in lower elevations; no reports were received about higher elevations, such as the Cherohala Skyway.
Graham County Schools closed Monday and Tuesday, and opened on a two-hour delay Wednesday. A number of local businesses remained shuttered throughout the weekend into Monday, with a select few opting to open Tuesday – the first day temperatures across the county rose above freezing since the snow fell.
Winter Storm Gianna dumped snow across each of North Carolina's 100 counties. In turn, The Center Square published an article that documented moments such as:
* Morehead City on the Atlantic Ocean measuring 15 inches of snow;
* A 100-car pile-up on I-85 in Kannapolis;
* Over 750 collisions and 817 calls for service were reported by the N.C. State Highway Patrol between 12:01 – 6 a.m., Saturday.
Carolina Journal News Service said that the N.C. Department of Transportation had over 2,500 employees working 24-hour shifts to treat roads, but was hampered by a salt and brine shortage – which was caused by consecutive weekends of snow and ice. A report from The Center Square cited brine treatments at $6 per mile and salt at $15 a mile.