LINCOLNTON, N.C. -- When the sun went down Friday, the snow in Lincoln County mixed with freezing rain.
The rain stings and feels like little pins when they hit your face, said Dana Riddle.
She and her husband drove up from Florida with their two sons because the boys had never seen snow. But they didn't quite make it to the ski resort they were hoping for.
"Passing through trying to get to Beech Mountain where we want to ski, tube," Riddle said.
Instead, they had to spend the night in Lincolnton, where they still managed to enjoy their first snow and were grateful they at least made it off the interstate safely.
Not everyone did. Sandy McDaniel was trying to get home just as the rain started to freeze.
"It snuck up on me," she said. "I hit a patch of ice and slid and slid into him and he slid off the road."
Both drivers were OK, and emergency crews in both Gaston and Lincoln counties say that kind of thing happened quite a bit at the height of the storm, because the height of the storm coincided with rush hour.
But things quieted down as the night wore on and the weather tapered off. It was also quiet on Lincolnton's Main Street where we ran into Santa. He told us even he had to wait for his sleigh -- pickup truck -- to thaw out before he could drive home.
"Well, you see, the reindeer only fly on Christmas eve," Santa said.
