Treacherous roads forced many people to stay home during the winter storm, which started Wednesday. While it may have been an inconvenience for adults, children across the state enjoyed the winter weather.

What You Need To Know

  • NCDOT and state officials monitored roads for re-freezing overnight

  • Stuck at home, families in Wake County slid down a hill beside the Farmhouse Cafe in Wendell Thursday

  • Children in Wake County Schools are out of school again Friday

  • Resident Stephanie Johnson said it's the most it has snowed since their family moved to Wake County from Michigan

State officials again urged people throughout North Carolina to stay off the roads until conditions improved.

Road conditions in the Triangle began to deteriorate again Thursday evening after seeing some improvement earlier in the day. Sunlight thawed ice patches, but there was concern wet roads would refreeze overnight.

Wake County Schools closed again Friday because of lingering impacts from the winter storm, after closing Wednesday and Thursday.

Roadways began to initially deteriorate throughout Central North Carolina Wednesday evening. 

Interstate 40 and Highway 64 had multiple stretches of problem areas treated with salt brine by North Carolina Department of Transportation crews. One person was killed in a crash involving 53 vehicles along I-40 in Durham Wednesday.

Miles of thin ice coated streets in various parts of Wilson County. The same goes for Wake County. Meanwhile, many families with young children in Wendell had back-to-back snow days.

Stephanie Johnson's family didn’t miss a beat. She walked over from their Wendell home with her daughter to sled down a hill beside the Farmhouse Cafe.

“We've tried to not go out on the road, so we just played outside in the backyard, and then we decided to come down here and try the sledding,” she said.

Stephanie Johnson watches her daughter and friend slide down a hill. (Spectrum News 1/Patrick Thomas)

Her 6-year-old daughter, Emory, had the time of her life.

“Yea she is having fun,” Johnson said.

Johnson, a mother of three with two grown children, said their family traded the colder climate of Michigan, where she is from, for the mostly milder winters of North Carolina.

“We moved here two years ago and this is the most snow we have seen here,” Johnson said.

There was plenty of powder to shred for the little ones, even if it came with a few bumps and bruises.

Johnson called the day a win. 

“We don’t get a lot of snow for you here to sled. This is fun for you guys,” Johnson said.