In the small city of New Bern, N.C., where lanterns illuminate regal, red-bricked streets, residents are used to the drudgery of storm prep, picking up sandbags and battery packs at Mitchell Hardware, feeling gloomy about another round of severe weather along the state’s hurricane-weary coastline.

But this week, Karen Pike, an employee at the store, noticed that residents in the city of about 31,000 were preparing for a storm with a pep in their step. Snow, perhaps a lot of it, was heading toward the beaches of the Carolinas, and customers needed their sleds. Perhaps a shovel, too.