It looks like we have a battle of the weather gurus and meteorologists this morning. The usually reliable Ray Russell of Boone Weather fame, is calling for light rain to snow and a bunch of mix in between and most everyone else is calling for snow, snow and a little more snow. This should be fun so here goes.
In this corner, the National Weather Service, Brad Panovich of SkiNC and WCNC fame, WJHL out of Johnson City and our own in-house weather pro, Monsieur Duartbuord (pronounced like “mister dartboard”) are all in basic agreement that this light rain will change to snow sometime tonight. They all say we’ll have snow Saturday, a little on Sunday and then more Monday into Tuesday. Meteorologist Brad Panovich is actually providing some detailed insight to his thoughts about what we’re in store for by saying, “…old man winter is going to make a serious come back this weekend. A truly arctic front will move through late Friday and bring in some much colder air. It initially looked like we would see somewhat of an icy mix this weekend; but the arctic high is a monster and it will bring in plenty of cold air to the mountains for snow. Snow will fall during the day on Saturday and even Sunday.”
He goes on to say, “These amounts will be light unless something happens which I am suspecting just might.” What he thinks will happen is a weather pattern that resembles a “Colorado Range Front”. Panovich explains, “In Colorado they get big snow especially in
He did tell us that he’s not certain that this will happen but that it is a possibility. So what does all of this mean? Basically if it doesn’t go down quite that way, Brad says to expect 2-4” of snow over the weekend with cold enough temps for 24/7 snowmaking around the ski resorts of the Southeast.
Another stronger system will front along the stalled arctic front which will be south of the area and move east Monday. This could mean more snow or ice, but suspect ice will be across the piedmont of the
Here’s the details:
Today expect light “under-developed snow” (rain) and a high at about what we have early AM (40-45°). Temps will drop tonight to near 25° and snow develops.
Saturday look for snow and highs near 28° and overnight lows should be near 18°.
Sunday looks variably cloudy with some sun and snow and a cold high of 28°. Sunday night more snow develops with a low holding at 27°.
President’s Day Monday will also be snowy with a high around freezing and Monday night’s low should be near 27°.
Tuesday continues to provide a chance of snow.
What does Ray say? We did say that it looked like Ray was in disagreement, so let’s see who wins this battle of weather wits.
Ray says Saturday we will get light snow (an inch or less for most and up to 2” up top). Then we’ll get a break late Saturday through the day on Sunday and then a second system slides in with a chance of snow Sunday night into Monday possibly changing to sleet/freezing rain or just plain old rain late Monday and clear on Tuesday. Ray’s forecast basically calls for about a dusting to an inch for most of the area…and only up to 2” at Beech, etc.
We sure hope the others are right!
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]