Eight Inches to Sixteen Inches of Snow has Fallen and Snow Drifts Measure in the Four Foot Range in Some Areas!

First Trax

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The Northwest flow snows kicked in as Meteorogist Brad Panovich forecasted early on Wednesday and as of 8pm Wednesday we’re seeing all sorts of deep snow totals. Crazy thing is that I spoke with clients in Morganton and Hickory (each about an hour from Boone) and they had SUNNY SKIES and high winds. The winds were howling at times, but at other times not so bad and we had moderate to heavy snow most all day.

At our SkiNC/SkiSoutheast offices between Boone and Banner Elk, we had maybe 3-4" of snow by the time I left the office. I headed to Banner Elk to care for our horses and at about Smoketree hit considerably more snow (maybe in the 8" range although some areas had a thin dusting on top of 4-5" of refrigerator ice. Other areas had snow drifts that were easily three feet deep.

I’ve written countless times about where snow goes to die at the foot of Beech Mountain in a snow bowl area off of Shomaker Road. Immediately after turning off of 194 on to Shomaker Road I was in snow that was easily a foot deep all the way to near the end of the road where it went deeper. MUCH DEEPER. Easily two feet of snow blanketed the entire field at the bottom area where powder gathers deep. My Chevy truck was up to the bumpers in powder and as I exited it was obvious that Wednesday had been a very snowy day for this part of the High Country!

After caring for the animals I took a high-profile four-wheeler up to the ridgetop where there was several football fields large area that was blanketed in 8-10" of snow and then I went to the area that always catches the most snow and as usual it was covered in snow too deep to traverse. I dug out one area just to get a guess and it had to be between 3-4 feet deep along the 150 yard by 50 yard hillside.

We received emails and confirmed them with other sources of 9" on the ground on Hwy 421 in Boone and about the same at Fred’s General Store on Beech Mountain.

David Lesher of Canaan Valley weather is reporting 5.8" of snow since 7am this morning for Canaan Valley so it looks like portions of the High Country picked up more snow squals than that area of West Virginia. Of course THAT 5.8" of snow came after 12.2" of snow was recorded at 7am by David! So I think Canaan will "settle" with the 18" of snow in the last 30 hours. …and it is still snowing up that way!

Wisp Resort reported 16" of new snow as of 2:21PM Wednesday and we’ll confirm that in the AM.

We’re certain we’ll get word from Laura and the crew at Snowshoe that they’ve been walloped as well!

We’ll try to get you the full report as early as possible on Thursday but the snow parade just keeps on keeping on as this winter may end up being more special than anyone could have imagined.

I can tell you personally that the roads are very dangerous this evening and this snow cover is a bit more treacherous than some – for some reason.  This blizzard snow was pretty wimpy until midday on Wednesday but it made a believer out of me. We’ve received official word from several sources that MANY businesses have cancelled work schedules for Thursday in many locations of the mountains of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. DOT crews are working the main highways but they are having a difficult time keeping up with the snow which is falling 2-3" an hour at times.

If you’re going to brave the roads early on Thursday make sure you pack a snow shovel and some emergency gear JUST IN CASE. Vehicles are stuck all over the region and even some 4WD vehicles are getting stranded along roadsides.

So if you’re heading to the resorts – just be prepared and know that you have the skills to make the drive. If you don’t already KNOW the answer to that question – you might want to wait until Friday to make the trek after this sytems clears out and the DOT crews do their magic!

See you in the AM.

Email me at [email protected] (I’d love to hear your snow reports, and see any photos or videos you wish to share!)

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