Winter storm Fern shuts down schools, flights in Charlotte
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Independence Boulevard Sunday morning. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Winter storm Fern is moving across Charlotte and the Carolinas, leading to school closures, icy roads and power disruptions.
The latest: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will be closed Monday, Jan. 26, due to the storm, CMS announced Sunday morning.
- CMS will not use a designated make-up instructional day on the 2025-26 academic calendar, per a district spokesperson.
Threat level: Ice accumulation remains the main threat for the Carolinas as winter storm Fern rolls through, according to WBTV meteorologists.
Zoom in: A winter storm shelter at Grady Cole Center (310 North Kings Dr.) in Elizabeth. The American Red Cross is leading the operation.
- The shelter, which is next to American Legion Memorial Stadium and Central Piedmont Community College and can hold around 200 people, will offer heat, power and basic meals to residents.
- Pets are allowed.
- While the shelter is open to anyone, it's meant for families with infants or young children, seniors or those with medical needs.
- Mecklenburg County Public Health nurses are on-site to help people with medical needs. The shelter will be monitored by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office and Mecklenburg County security.
If you go: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management Office recommends bringing the following to the shelter:
- Enough clothing and toiletries for a couple of days.
- Sleeping bags and/or blankets.
- Layers including sweatshirts, coats, head coverings and gloves.
- Snacks.
- Medications.
- Phone and phone charger.
- Ways to keep busy, such as books or a deck of cards.
What we're watching: Widespread power outages are expected across North Carolina, possibly for several days. See Duke Energy's outage map here.
- Flights have been significantly impacted, with hundreds of cancellations and delays at Charlotte Douglas International Airport over the weekend, per FlightAware.
- Roughly 99,000 of the state's 2.2 million Medicare recipients are deemed medically at risk during this storm because they depend on electricity for life-sustaining equipment, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services emPOWER data.
Zoom out: Winter storm warnings, ice storm warnings and winter weather advisories are in effect for the entire state until Monday, Gov. Josh Stein said Saturday morning. The Governor's office is also cautioning people about possible black ice throughout the weekend.
- More than 3.6 million gallons of brine had been used to treat state roads as of Saturday.
Flashback: 1.8 million people lost power during an ice storm in 2002. "This is the worst storm in company history," then Duke Power Vice President George Acker said.