dogwoods

Y'all I'm a big lurker and I am embarrassed to put up an IMBY post... but need advice. Am traveling to the midwest with spouse and kids to visit with my in-laws on Friday, supposed to be returning to RDU (thru Charlotte) by noon on Wednesday. Currently looking into changing flights for early morning Tue thru ORD, but would cost $280 to change. Can't decide if I should pull the trigger...

Hey y'all, wondering if I could get some help. I normally only ever lurk here during winter to see if there's snow brewing... but am always disappointed because I live in the Triangle, and there's a snow dome over Raleigh. But figured I'd post today on the off chance that it might lead to something. Here's the deal. I have family up in the mountains of Avery County, NC. My sister volunteers for the Linville Rescue Squad. It's an all-volunteer group and she has been doing search and rescue work with them for a few years. They have been working around the clock since the hurricane hit and giving it their all. My sister didn't even shower for like six days, has been sleeping on the floor, going without hot meals, hiking around the woods in Avery county doing search and rescue... you get the drift. And the whole squad is just full of really decent people that are doing this, unpaid as usual. Anyway, randomly before Helene hit, the Rescue Squad got selected to be a finalist in this contest through Land Rover. If they win, they could get a new vehicle and $25,000. That's CRAZY money for a volunteer squad that usually exists off of community donations. Here's the link to the rescue squad: https://linville-centralrescue.org/ And to the contest: https://www.landroverusa.com/experiences/events-and-sponsorships/defender-service-awards/vote/search-and-rescue.html The only way they'll win is if people vote for them. First, I'm hoping everyone here will vote. But also -- I'm trying to get some more visibility for the contest through media outlets. Like this is such an easy way for people to help out, just click and vote in this contest, no donation or anything -- and it could go such a long way to help these guys and the people they serve. Think how much of financial and emotional impact it would have after everything they've been through. So I'm sort of trying to be a one-man PR team to help them out. What would be amazing is if somebody like Brad Panovich or Ethan Clark could share this information on their facebook page since they have such a wide reach. I think the North Carolina Weather Authority has like 568k followers on Facebook, Brad has 374k followers... you get my drift. BIG reach. Does anyone know these guys? I tried to send them a facebook message, but I'm just a random person shouting from the void out of a million messages they're already receiving, and they probably thought I was just doing PR for Land Rover. (Unfortunately it does have free PR for Land Rover but I don't care about that other than the squad will get a free vehicle!) So anyway, if y'all have any connections, please consider helping out and pass this message along. It's a really decent cause. Many, many thanks.

What a great and informative post, thanks!!!

After losing countless hours of my attention (and sleep) to that storm I swore I would stop following winter storms and just let things be. Guess that didn’t pan out…

THIS. I’m just hoping that somehow the anti-snow dome over Raleigh decides to take a hike for this winter…

This is where I am tempted to avoid the boards, turn off the internet, etc. so that I have a normal week… but I know that I’ll have my nose in the phone and lose sleep waiting for every model run. Maybe I should have taken up painting or birdwatching as a hobby instead of weather.

The Wake gradient is strong. Would be funny… if I didn’t live here.

Well, we changed our mind last minute and headed up here to Linville. I just saw thundersnow for the first time in my life!! The wind is howling. This is quite a storm!

What do you mean — good or bad?

I don’t think I’m taking a chance on this one. But I wanted y’all to know that your posting is appreciated — I got a weather station this year for Christmas because my interest in weather has grown over the years as a result of this forum. Thanks and keep it up!!

Ok, I have been lurking here for YEARS — ever since the I discovered the boards during the Dec 26th 2010 storm. Am coming out of lurkdom to ask an opinion. We *just* got back to Raleigh from Linville area on Thursday. Am seriously considering going back up late this afternoon but it would be an ordeal (small kids and rescheduling work). I don’t think it would be worth it for 4” or less. Should I take the chance??