First, Happy New Year to all y'all in the ACA family! While there is a Winter Storm Warning to share with you, I wanted to pass along the official numbers from the National Weather Service for what was the wettest year on record (since March of 1869!!!) at the region's official NWS gauge at the Asheville airport:
75.22" 2013
45.57" annual average
29.65" above normal (!)
And now back to our yet young winter, with some of the coldest air of the season inbound Thursday night. 4pm update: ACA is now in a Winter Storm Warning above 3500' (blue roof house) and a Winter Weather Advisory below 3500'. These are in effect from 4pm Thursday through 7am Friday. Going forecast is for 3-5" in the warning areas, and 1-2" in the advisory areas. My two favored models continue to put ACA only in the 1" category with 2" close by to the north, but the NWS continues to use wording mentioning possibly heavy snow, so best to prepare. The Smokies, Max Patch, and points north, etc., do stand to get a nice tally.
Even tonight there may be passing hits of wintry precipitation, with everything from sleet to freezing rain to a little snow...with the changeover to all snow by late Thursday afternoon when the cold comes crashing in. But not just cold, mind you, but lots of gusty winds in the 25-35mph range which will make the temps all that more stinging.
Any snow that does fall and accumulate should be tailing off well before sunrise Friday, with best accumulating potential from supper Thursday through midnight. It's just Wednesday morning as I type, so will update either later tonight or first thing Thursday morning with any changes in the forecast as some of us have to get off the mountain and get to work...or make alternate plans. :-)
Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment