A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for a good portion of the mountains; accumulating snow is likely. A northwest flow snow event will be likely across the higher elevation of the mountains Thursday night into Friday as a strong cold front moves in. Accumulating snow is possible, mainly above 3,000ft. Amounts will be light. It is expected to turn very cold Thursday-Saturday. Subfreezing lows are expected Thursday through Sunday across most of the mountains. High winds are possible, with gusts of 40-50MPH in the mountains on Thursday, which could lead to some isolated power outages and down trees.
Accumulation: A dusting to 1-3 (mainly along the TN border communities) inches is expected for anyone above 3,000ft; some flakes could even fly for the valleys low chance below 3,000ft. The big winners for snow are above 3,500ft into the Smokies and along the North Carolina-Tennessee border 4-8+ inches like along the highest peaks, for example, the Smokies mountains, Mount Mitchell, the western facing ski resorts, and Blue Ridge Parkways. A few ridgetop locations will exceed 8+ inches, especially in the Smokies Clingmans Dome, and Max Patch Wolf Laurel, very high locations of the mountains Roan Mountain/ Carvers Gap. Snowfall amounts are highly dependent on elevation; the higher you are, the better. The lower you are in the valleys, little to no amounts.
Timing: Snow will start Thursday night across the mountains and continue on and off through Friday ending Saturday. Some accumulation on the roads, mainly above 3,500ft will be possible. High winds are possible with gusts 40-50MPH in the mountains on Thursday could lead to some isolated power outages and down trees.
NWS Says: The heavy snow will create snow-covered roads and produce scattered power outages. The hazardous conditions could impact the Thursday evening and Friday morning commutes. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches."
Winter Weather Advisory for Swain-Haywood-Ashe-Watauga-Avery-Madison-Yancey-Mitchell Counties until Saturday morning,
-Ethan
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