A rare Charlotte snow day (well, ice day)

Why it matters: Charlotte’s first significant winter storm in more than three years is hardly a fluffy, dreamy wonderland. It’s mostly just a bunch of ornery ice pellets that sting the skin and pile up on the roads.

• It’s expected to continue falling like that, all mixed up and unsure of what it really wants to be, through the afternoon.

Yes, but: With great clarity we can declare it is Sunday, and people are having fun with it. We’ve been getting pictures in our Instagram direct messages all morning; follow along to see more of them throughout the day.

• My personal favorite is a video of two people sledding on a trash bag. Talk about Southern ingenuity.

What’s happening: More than an inch of snow fell at Charlotte Douglas International Airport this morning, and now ice is accumulating.

• Some spots, including Monroe, are already up to a quarter-inch of ice, WCNC’s chief meteorologist Brad Panovich said.
• Cars are spinning out all over the roads, including on the incline on I-277, as WCNC reporter Brandon Goldner captured.
• More than 1,000 flights are canceled. You can scroll through the list of cancellations in your free time. As of this afternoon it appeared a 4:25pm trip to Detroit was still on time, for anyone interested in Michigan in January.
• As of 1:30pm Sunday, about 1,300 people were without power in Mecklenburg County, while Union County had about 3,800 and Lancaster County, S.C. was up over 7,700 according to Duke Energy’s outage map.

The bottom line: Proceed with care. Stay warm. Don’t eat yellow snow. Send us your pics over on Instagram.

Here are a few others we loved from this morning:

My thought bubble: ☝️ That’s a good dog right there.

• We had so many good dogs come in that Axios’ Emma Way decided to drop one post of just pets.
• And if you’re looking for something else to read, be sure to read the greatest Charlotte snow story ever written, “Snow Fell,” by Tommy Tomlinson.