Dense Fog Blankets Triangle, Triad Areas with Quarter-Mile Visibility
Morning commuters face dangerous quarter-mile visibility as dense fog engulfs Triangle and Triad regions.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Dense fog covered much of central and northern North Carolina early Monday morning, reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less across the Triangle, Triad, and Rocky Mount areas as commuters began their week.
The National Weather Service in Raleigh issued a special weather statement at 4:57 a.m. EDT warning of dangerous driving conditions across the northern Piedmont and northern Coastal Plain regions. The fog was most dense in populated areas including portions of the Triad, Triangle, and Rocky Mount, where visibilities dropped to half a mile to a quarter mile or less at times.
Driving Safety Concerns
Weather officials urged motorists to exercise caution during the morning commute. The National Weather Service advised drivers to slow down, use low beam headlights, and maintain extra following distance between vehicles.
A similar advisory was issued by the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Virginia, at 4:42 a.m. EDT for areas under their jurisdiction, echoing the same safety recommendations for drivers encountering the dense fog conditions.
Expected Improvement
Meteorologists predicted conditions would begin improving after daybreak Monday morning. The fog was expected to gradually lift as temperatures rose and atmospheric conditions changed with the morning sun.
The weather service indicated that visibility should improve toward and just after daybreak, providing relief for commuters and travelers in the affected regions. No timeline was provided for complete clearing of the fog, but conditions were forecast to steadily improve throughout the morning hours.
The fog advisory affected major metropolitan areas including Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill in the Triangle region, and Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point in the Triad. Rocky Mount and surrounding areas in the northern Coastal Plain also experienced similar visibility restrictions.
