BIG CHANGES, ALBEIT SHORT LIVED

Wind and cold are coming in later tonight through Friday before ameliorating.  A skiff of snow is likely tomorrow, as well, but no travel issues are expected.  Friday morning lows are forecast to be in the teens, which is bad news for budding vegetation....cover any exposed plants if you have them and can.

Otherwise, temps warm back up Saturday into Easter Sunday, helping us forget this rather typical cold shot at this time of year.

Thursday I get my 2nd stage Moderna shot at the Fairgrounds.  When I got my 1st stage shot, the PA said I'd get my second shot April 1, at which point I said, "Is this some kind of joke?"  Apparently, my quick wit reference to April Fool's Day was not comprehended as I got the blank look followed by crickets chirping and no response... LOL!!!

Cheer's, y'all!

Boib

"STUFF" :-)

Well, we passed the Ides of March and are now heading towards official spring in a few days.  Meteorologists call March 1 "Meteorological Spring", which you may have heard mentioned at some point.  We still have some chilly mornings to deal with coming up, and more rain, but thankfully no white stuff in the cards...for now.  The pic below is of a skiff of snow we got May 9 last year...

I finally got around to editing the video of my sled trip down to my car.  I had a big charter to pick up the University of Virginia men's basketball team one morning....we already had a few inches of snow two nights prior, and then a couple of more inches ending up falling the night before, so I wanted to be safe and put my car at the bottom of Apple Creek Road.  I'll drive anywhere with my 4WD Explorer, but Apple Creek has some tricky sections if it gets icy, so I played it safe. Jeff Hintzman (I'm assuming) made a great call to salt Apple Creek Road before the second snowfall, as it helped clear the road that day....but not before my sledding adventure from Staymon Road down!  I have a headband mount for my GoPro which was ideal for this. The video starts from Staymon Road where it pitches downhill, and ends around Chris Martin's house at the bottom, where there just wasn't enough snow to continue.  I cut out the sections where I had to walk, and then sped it up x1.5 to shorten it up...I felt like a kid again.  :-) Click on the link below.

Sledding to Work

For those new to the mountain, just wait for the flora explosion the first two weeks of April!  We have an abundance of wildflowers at every turn, and I'll be posting pics as I get them.  I use the word 'explosion' as I find it magical in every way how fast and varied flowers and leaves come out.

Trillium (click to enlarge)

A few weeks ago there were reports of a man wandering around low on Apple Creek Road knocking on doors, looking for his wife who was cheating on him, yaddah, yaddah...ultimately the Sheriff's Office said he and his wife are known for their drinking and causing some disturbances, but said he was not a dangerous person. I think they live in Country Place, if I remember correctly.  Anytime you see something suspicious, please call the Sheriff's Office at (828) 452-6670 and report it.

For now, that's all the news from Lake Wobegon...gosh, how I miss Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion!

Bob

SIDE ROADS WORK...

 From the HOA board:

There is a chance that Custom Paving will be in the neighborhood working on the side roads tomorrow (Friday).

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Just a good ol' "heads up!".

Bob

LIMITED UPDATE

 I'm out of town the next couple of days, so I'm not able to see things for myself. I know the power is out, and as I am typing here at 9:30 in the morning, I have got no update from Duke as to what time the outage may be fixed. I do know it seemed to affect 60 families when I reported it, which sounds like an Apple Creek and Mauney Cove situation. There's some light ice on the driveway and certainly on the decks, elevated surfaces, and vegetation. It should switch over to rain and hopefully wash the ice away.

However, tonight, there may be a situation where there may be more freezing conditions. Our winter storm warning was extended until 7 in the morning Friday from 7 p.m. tonight. Please use Extreme Caution if you must head out and if you have any observations, feel free to put them in the comments section. If I get information from people, I will put in the comments sections, as well. And forgive me for all the typos as I am using voice typing to speed this up!

Bob

WINTER STORM WATCH....UGH

Sunrise burst of color 2-16-21, end of Staymon (click to enlarge)

ACA is under a Winter Storm Watch as I type, which will transition to a Winter Storm Warning later today. It runs from 7p Wednesday through 7pm Thursday, calling for a mix of wintry precipitation that ultimately favors more sleet and freezing rain than snow for ACA.  

I won't be on the mountain for this event, but for those on the mountain, you may have some slippery stuff to deal with Thursday morning. What warmth in our roads has chilled considerably as I have 17 degrees as I type. The original forecast had temps rising and precipitation transitioning to rain here....but if that process slows, it makes for an extended mess on the mountain for ACA. Like the last event that didn't affect Haywood County, a 'warm nose' should work in from the SW, keeping big icing problems in the Piedmont and northern NC mountains.

Please add road conditions and any problems in the comments section...and I'll update as I can from the road.

Bob

ROAD PLAN

 The board has asked me to pass the following information along concerning Apple Creek roads. The plower will plow Apple Creek Road either this evening or tomorrow morning. All the side roads will be plowed tomorrow, as well. A couple of volunteers have taken care of some portions already (thank y'all!).

Bob

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ACA

Mauney Cove and Lake J (click to enlarge)

TREE CREW UPDATE:  Before I get into our incoming wintry mess, I want to pass along some info from the tree crew.  They are presently working their way down Apple Creek Road to the entrance (but not today, Saturday).  Once they finish with the main road, they are going to go back to the top and start working the side roads all the way down. They'll be up here for some time to come, in one place or another.  Just a heads up for that.

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Well, just what most of us don't want, yet another snow system to stymie travel, mail delivery, etc. This one is a southern system that typically brings more snow than our NW flow stuff and should give us the most snow thus far.  The good news is that the core of the polar air first slated to get here won't be getting here at all.  The bad news is that being on the edge of the arctic air, we get the cold temps and a low pressure coming out of the Gulf of Mexico that will ride along that arctic boundary, which ushers in more moisture, hence more accumulations.

The good news is that the 6-12" totals now are forecast to be half-that, in the 3-6" range.  The bad news is that's because the higher snow totals, which some will see early on, will be compacted by sleet and freezing rain. Yucky-doodle in every respect. My work today was canceled so I won't be giving a report or dealing with driving up the mountain at midnight tonight. Time to prepare and hunker down.

ACA is under a Winter Storm Warning from 6pm Saturday through 12 noon on Sunday. With no demarcation really between higher and lower elevations, the Warning is a broad-brush stroke of 3-6" with locally higher amounts of heavy snow, then tempered with some sleet and possibly freezing rain as the warm nose moves in from the SW early Sunday. My somewhat favored GFS model has ACA solidly in a 5-8" band, and the earlier hot-n-heavy NAM has scaled back to 4-6". Naturally, the higher up you are, the more accumulation you should get.  I'm looking for 5-7" here at the end of Staymon.

I suppose some other good news is that bitterly cold temps will not come in afterwards.  Chilly, yes, brutally cold, no.  Sunshine should pop out Sunday afternoon and highs for a lot of us should go above 32 degrees. After refreeze, Monday's temps should get into the 40s if you're in the sunshine.

Plowing and salting will be done once the precipitation ends, and I'll pass that along once I hear from the board. Make the most of your daylight hours in preparing for our umpteenth winter wonderland. I think you might even find a football game or something to watch on TV...

Bob