How Best To Track Winter Weather In Davidson This Weekend

LAKE NORMAN, NC — There is a lot of weather misinformation that floats around social media anytime the word "snow" is uttered, so in order to make sure you're prepared, I compiled a list of sources you can follow to make sure you stay on top of any winter weather news in our area.

First, make sure to check out the source you're seeing and where it came from. If it looks completely different than what you're seeing on local news, it's likely not a reliable source, and unfortunately it could be someone looking for clicks or social media engagement.

Make sure to also check the dates on posts and articles, so that you don't get accidentally duped into old news or something that has changed in the forecasting. The same thing can happen with social media posts, and it can really lead people astray if the information is wrong.

A huge recommendation is to stick with people you know, like your local meteorologist, local weather offices and federal forecasting sites.

A word of caution is not to trust the apps that come built in on your cell phone. Sometimes they are just computer estimates that the app uses and puts into their forecast, and they can be wrong. Local meteorologists warn people about this all the time, and recommend you take the additional step of downloading a local news app instead or at least watching local weather. With many local news apps now, you can put in your zip code and it will update for your exact location, so you don't have to worry if your closest local news station is a little far from you.

For those who live in the Charlotte and Lake Norman area, here are good sources to follow:

1) Brad Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC. He's @WXBrad on Twitter, and always posts updates there. He tends to post video updates that can help explain what's going on without all of the jargon, too. If you don't have Twitter, you can find him on Facebook as well.

2) National Weather Service. This is the big daddy of local weather forecasting. They literally have people in their office 24/7 working to make sure people know what's going on. The National Weather Service office that covers the Charlotte and Lake Norman area is in Greenville, so follow @NWSGSP on Twitter or Facebook.

3) Al Conklin, chief meteorologist at WBTV. He's easily found on Twitter and Facebook and posts updates daily.

4) Tara Lane, FOX46/Queen City News chief meteorologist. If you have a question, she will try to answer it on Twitter @TaraLaneWX.

5) Jeff Crum at Spectrum News is the chief meteorologist, and if you have Spectrum, they do weather "on the 1s" so basically at 12:01, 12:11, so on and so forth, so you can get the weather every ten minutes on their channel. He's on Twitter @WXCrum.

6) Jeff Udelson is chief meteorologist at WSOC, and posts regularly on social media. You can check out his updates on Twitter @SUdelsonWSOC9.

7) Nicole Madden leads the meteorology team at WCCB, and you can find her on Twitter @NicoleMaddenWX.

8) NCDOT will update road conditions, they're also on social media @NCDOT.

Other Communication Tips:

• If you have the WSOC/WBTV/WCCB/Spectrum/WCNC weather apps, make sure notifications are on so you are kept abreast of what's happening.
• If you have a weather radio, make sure you have batteries in case the power goes out.
• Make sure your emergency notifications are on so you get GPS related alerts if the need arises