That HUGE rumble that you’ve been hearing since about 4:30pm yesterday is the voices across the region talking about the HUGE snowstorm that is on the way! Brad Panovich first broke that news to us yesterday and this morning all of the computer models are in amazing agreement that this weekends snow will be the kind that people talk about for a while. We expect to hear from Brad with an update later today and we will pass that along.
For now, it’s definitely looking like most areas of the Western North Carolina Mountains will see 8-12” of snow (maybe more!) and the Virginias may see quite a bit more with Brad’s Snowshoe forecast looking at the possibility of 12-16”.
Yesterday’s snowfall was a very dry powder kind of snow with NO WIND that mounted up fast and as soon as the sun broke yesterday EVAPORATED! Brad and other forecasters are saying that snow should begin tonight and that on Saturday we will see some BLIZZARD conditions with heavy snow and winds to match it into 20-30mph range, gusting into the 40mph range.
Temperatures will be VERY COLD across the regions with highs in the teens and 20s and lows in the teens and some single digit readings are not out of the question. This snow should last well into Monday. Today and Sunday/Monday should be near EPIC ski days across the Southeast.
Here’s Brad’s Forecast from late yesterday:
Hello skiers! The cold and snow sure has been a welcome return for those who love to ski. Many areas have seen ideal snow making conditions for almost a complete week now and we’ve been blessed with about 6” of the natural stuff through that same period. Well if the cold and the light snow wasn’t enough then get ready for the mother load. The first huge snowstorm of the season for the Southeast and mid-Atlantic is on the way.
Here’s how things unfold… we can already see the two areas of low pressure coming together. One for the Northern branch of the jet stream and one from the southern branch. This is the set-up that produces major snowstorms…the one people talk about for winters to come. The area of low pressure forms over Texas and then moves Northeast. The newest data coming in suggests snow and some sleet will begin to fall across the North Carolina mountains by midnight Friday. Then as we head into Saturday morning moderate to heavy snow will over take all the mountains, foothills and even the piedmont of North Carolina and the Virginias. The amount in the mountains will be prolific, due to both the Synoptic snows and then very prolific Northwest flow snows as the storm pulls away. It looks like those northwest flows snows could last into Monday. So how much? I’ll say right now North Carolina Mountains 6-10” with the highest amounts near the Tennessee line, and the valley will be close to 6”. The Virginias will see 6-12”, but Snowshoe as always benefits from it’s great topography and will get 12-16” by Tuesday morning. Wind and cold will also move in with this storm Arctic air spills in on the back side and depending how deep the low gets wind could be 30-35mph so near blizzard conditions are not out of the question.
More to come later on Friday!
Good skiing!
Brad
Until Next Time!
Check out www.HighCountryWeather.com for more information and also be sure to check out www.SkiSoutheast.com for more weather information about ski resorts to the north!
Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]