Weather Talk

[DCMetroRaleigh]

It's currently 19 degrees on Grandfather Mountain, and 34 degrees on Appalachian Ski Mountain. And even at about 2000 ft elevation, it's 43 at Asheville Regional Airport.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Dr Ray Russell over at Boone Weather says:

Forecast Discussion

It was a beautiful weekend for the Woolly worm Festival; add to that record crowds and the result is a great time had by all. The Woolly Worm's Forecast is available woollyworm.com Ray's Fearless Forecast for Winter was unveiled Saturday morning as well. You can get under the "Resources" menu at the top of the page or just click here: RaysWeather.Com Fearless Forecast. This winter once again the forecast battle will be on woollyworm.com.

But we have winter weather to deal with in the short-term. Wow is it cold--20 degrees colder than normal today and almost as cold tomorrow. And keep reading Black Saturday (ASU vs Furman Football) may become "Black and White Saturday"!

A deep trough has been carved into the Eastern US bringing January weather in October. A cold front came through Sunday with cold air lagging behind a few hours. Overnight temperatures dropped into the 20s up top and in the low to mid 30s elsewhere. No one will see 40 today and the mountaintops will not break 30. With this first cold wave a few snow flurries were flying this morning especially at higher elevations near the TN Line. Another disturbance in this strong NW flow will arrive this evening with flurries and snow showers. Any accumulation will be light, those NW upslope areas near the TN line could see an inch or so. This second period of snow will be from late afternoon into early Tuesday. NW winds will be quite gusty as well: 15-25 mph with gusts to 40 mph.

Wednesday will be a 'tweener with somewhat milder temperatures. But the next front is not far behind in this fast, amplified flow. A chilly rain arrives Thursday--a generally yucko day.

Another round of colder air arrives Friday and light rain will change to light snow showers. Now here's the part you're not going to believe. Yet another disturbance in this fast, cold NW flow will arrive with the chance of light snow and snow showers Saturday lasting into early Sunday. Light accumulation is possible with this one favoring yet again the NW upslope areas near the TN line. The ASU/Furman Football game billed as "Black Saturday" has a good chance to be "Black and White Saturday". (BTW, NWS has a high of 49 and a 30% chance of showers for Saturday. Must be the same fiction writers that had a forecast of partly cloudy and 50 for today and Tuesday 5 days ago.)

[appatone]

I'm in Boone now and it is currently snowing. It has been spitting little bits of snow off and on all day.

[twincity]

Snow flurries seen in Ashe and Alleghany

Parts of Ashe, Alleghany and Watauga counties might be covered by a light dusting of snow this morning.

Snow flurries were reported last night in Ashe and Alleghany counties. Dispatchers in Watauga said they had not had snow.

"We're not expecting a lot of accumulation," said William Perry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va.

Most towns in the mountain counties of Northwestern North Carolina that do have snow are likely to have flurries, said Van Denton, a meteorologist with Fox 8/WGHP.

at this rate, the ski resorts could open by Nov. 1 instead of thanksgiving.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Winston-Salem and much of the western third of the state have not gotten higher than the 40's today. Parts of the extreme west did not get out of the 30's, and the highest mountain tops remained in the 20's by 5:00 pm. Impressive for mid October.

[davidals]

Those ski resorts - some of 'em at least - are open, making snow.

Both the wooly worms and the Farmer's Almanac are forecasting and intense beginning and end to winter, with a bit of a break in the middle.

Post-el nino winters are historically known for both snowy/icy southeastern winters and a stormy/severe late winter/spring:

The Jan 1996 blizzard (and the very snowy 95/96 winter), March 1993 blizzard, freak 1987 April Fools day snowstorm in W NC, the Feb 1983 week of central NC snowstorms, and Feb 1977 W NC snowstorms (which shut down Watauga Co schools for nearly 1 month) all immediately followed an el nino; ditto for the GA/NC/SC/VA tornado outbreaks in April 1974, March 1984 and November 1992...

[PlazaMidwoodGuy]

I lived in Boone for 12 years - in that time I saw snow (at least once) in Jan, Feb, March, April, May, October, Nov and Dec.

[Tayfromcarolina]

I just want a couple of good snow storms this year here in the Raleigh area. A couple days to stay home with my family and watch dvd's and drink hot coca, surf the net. Ahh. And slow down from the franticness that is life. Can I get a second on this.

And no play, play snow. 5" or greater.

[lma1973]

The weather in extreme SE part of NC is pretty different too. Ive seen it snow in Raleigh at 35 degrees while it be mid 50's on Bald Head Island.

[davidals]

Ah, Boone. I went to college up there in the early and mid-80s....back when we still had good solid winters with plenty of snow and cold! As much as I love snow, it did get a bit old by the end of the season, especially a couple of particularly rough winters that I recall. But more than the snow, the thing that will drive you crazy about winter in Boone is the wind....it never seems to stop! And frankly, horizontal snow (as we always called it) isn't nearly as charming to watch as the kind that falls straight down.

It's amazing how different weather-wise that whole NW corner of the state can be, 12 months out of the year. Non-North Carolina natives always seem shocked by the contrast.

[lma1973]

Yep...the weather here can be crazy (seems like most folks think of the cold). Mt Mitchell has seen snow in every month of the year.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Charlotte Observer says:

strong storm system building along the Carolinas coast is producing some light snow and sleet across areas to the east and southeast of Charlotte this morning.

Forecasters say some of the frozen precipitation could begin falling in the Charlotte metro region before noon. However, they add, the snow or sleet will change to rain rather quickly, and no accumulations are expected.

Some snow is even mixing with the rain at Myrtle Beach this morning, where heavy rain and strong winds could cause flooding through Wednesday. Flood watches have been posted throughout the Carolinas, east of Interstate 95.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16066260.htm

[twincity]

11:50 AM - WXII is reporting snow flurries in Winston.

[Tayfromcarolina]

Yeah, it started here in Raleigh and even in Fayetteville as snow earlier this morning.Ehh now it's just rain though. Too early in the season but if today was January 21st and not Novermber 21st this would be one heck of a snow storm. Curses. Ah well. Let's hope this pattern continues.

[JunktionFET]

I was outside my office building in North Raleigh around an hour ago and saw some random sleet pellets and snow flurries. It certainly feels cold enough for such weather.

[DigitalSky]

Ok this nor'easter over the past few days was kinda unexpected - brought a LOT of rain to the area