A cold weather advisory is in effect for all of central North Carolina from 7 this evening until 10 Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Dangerously cold wind chills are expected tonight into early Tuesday morning. Wind chills will reach the single digits above zero, with some as low as five below zero in the northern Piedmont and Coastal Plain.

Black ice is a primary concern early Tuesday morning on roads that have not yet dried. Temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until noon on Tuesday.

The week will remain dry but consistently cold, with temperatures staying well below normal.

From Tuesday to Thursday there will be sunny to mostly sunny skies, but the cold persists. Thursday may be even colder following a secondary cold front.

The  eight to 14-day outlook indicates a 33 to 40 percent chance of continued below-normal temperatures and near to below-normal precipitation.

Forecasters are monitoring the possible development of a coastal low-pressure system this upcoming weekend.

Current models show the possibility of accumulating snow, though the NWS notes it is too early for specific details as projections are likely to change.

Storm roundup

Over the weekend, officials said there were some power outages, the majority of them in Scotland Neck.

Halifax County Emergency Management Coordinator Buddy Wrenn said those power outages began Sunday morning and there were sporadic ones this morning.

Wrenn said the state Department of Transportation has been concentrating on primary roads and he reported Highways 301 and 158 as well as Interstate 95 are in the best shape.

Some of the roads are getting slushy, he said, noting however, “The problem is we are gonna have a pretty hard freeze tonight, so everything that’s still on the roads is going to be frozen overnight. There’ll be a lot of black ice.”

With a strong potential for black ice, Wrenn suggested that people should stay off the roads as much as possible.