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2nd Annual Snow Thread for the Mountains


Met1985

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This goes down as the wildest northwest flow events I have seen in my 34 years on earth...

Snow squalls, not showers or flurries...but squalls have broke containment in Northern McDowell and Burke Counties since about 5 pm. Areas of McDowell along the Parkway (3K ft) have received 3-5 inches of snow since this morning.

 

Anyway, the first squall that broke containment occurred around 5 pm today and it was something that I have never seen before. I was on US 70 going to Marion and literally for about 15 minutes the cloud lowered so fast and the snow was so intense that everyone on 70 pulled over and waited it out like you would do a torrential thunderstorm in the summer. This was the huge silver-dollar type flakes and it was a blanket that covered everything in front of you. Visibility got down to maybe 1/4 mile. I think the combination of snow intensity and people being caught off-guard had drivers in some shock.

 

Anyway, in 15 minutes the ground covered and you could actually see a slush begin to build on the pavement...which for this time of year is unheard of. But as soon as it stopped, the pavement sizzled and melted everything down to water instantly.

 

These are the same squalls that originate up around Joe's place in Yancey County so to hear his totals sounds about right.

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000

ASUS62 KGSP 261351

RTPGSP

MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE FOR

THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS OF NORTH CAROLINA

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC

951 AM EDT WED MAR 26 2014

THIS IS THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAIN AND FOOTHILLS REPORT...

WHICH INCLUDES THE HIGH AND LOW TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION

FOR THE 24 HOUR PERIOD ENDING AROUND 7 AM THIS MORNING.

.BR GSP 0326 E DH07/TAIRZX/TAIRZN/PPDRZZ/SFDRZZ/SDIRZZ

:

: STATION ELEV: OBS HIGH LOW 24 HR SNOW SNOW

: NAME TIME TEMP TEMP PCPN FALL DEPTH

BELN7:BANNER ELK 3770:DH0700/ 28/ 13/ 0.07/ 4.0/ M

BCHN7:BEECH MOUNTAIN 5069:DH0700/ 25/ 7/ 0.17/ 5.0/ 8

BOON7:BOONE 3098:DH0700/ 36/ 16/ 0.31/ 2.0/ 3

FTSN7:FLAT SPRINGS 3355:DH0700/ 34/ 16/ 0.40/ 5.8/ 4

HLDN7:HIGHLANDS 3840:DH0800/ 33/ 14/ 0.03/ T / M

HTSN7:HOT SPRINGS 1400:DH0700/ 43/ 25/ 0.02/ T / 0

MRHN7:MARSHALL 1800:DH0700/ 38/ 22/ 0.07/ 1.5/ 1

MMTN7:MOUNT MITCHELL 6240:DH0700/ 22/ 0/ 0.41/ 8.0/ 12

MURN7:MURPHY 1800:DH0700/ 43/ 23/ T/ T / 0

SPPN7:SPRUCE PINE 2500:DH0600/ 36/ 18/ T/ T / T

ROBN7:STECOAH 2150:DH0800/ 35/ 20/ 0.15/ 1.5/ T

WYVN7:WAYNESVILLE 2658:DH0800/ 38/ 15/ 0.04/ M/ 1

.END

THESE DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FINAL QUALITY

CONTROL (QC) BY NCDC. THEREFORE...THESE DATA ARE SUBJECT TO

REVISION. FINAL AND CERTIFIED CLIMATE DATA CAN BE ACCESSED AT

THE NATIONAL CLIMATE DATA CENTER (NCDC)- WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV.

$$

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Modis SAT image for today.  The snow covered areas really standing out. (my mtn top depicted by arrow) It appears pretty conclusively watching upslope events this Winter that you need high inversion heights coupled with low static stability and moderate to strong winds to get those snow bands over the nearly impregnable Smokies into the Balsams. 

post-9361-0-30635300-1395855806_thumb.jp

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Ended up with about 6.5 inches. As Marion said, those squalls were different than usual. The sky would darken to the NW like a thunderstorm in the summer then would hit with a vengeance. This happened over and over yesterday. One squall put down about an inch in 15 minutes. High today was 32.6 but a lot melting occurred because of the sun angle I guess.

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Ended up with about 6.5 inches. As Marion said, those squalls were different than usual. The sky would darken to the NW like a thunderstorm in the summer then would hit with a vengeance. This happened over and over yesterday. One squall put down about an inch in 15 minutes. High today was 32.6 but a lot melting occurred because of the sun angle I guess.

Ya you new when you are fixing to get dumped on because the sky would turn very dark. Pretty cool. I think us being in spring is why we squalls were so intense. More heating and instability in the air.

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Notice how the 850mb level warming affected Mount Mitchell but had not yet worked northward to Grandfather Mountain

Mt Mitchell State Pk (@MtMitchellStPk)

3/27/14, 7:55

Temps warmed up thru the night: 36 F with SW winds at 5-8 mph. Yesterday's daytime high was 23 F. BRP&Mt Mitchell closed due to ice on road.

6zAgBOz.jpg

j08FxoK.jpg

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Robert is thinking the mtns. could see more snow in the month of April with the cut off lows and the cold air and snow cover so close by.

 

Maybe top of the mountains, but it's hard to see Asheville or valley towns getting anymore snow thanks to climatology. 

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Maybe top of the mountains, but it's hard to see Asheville or valley towns getting anymore snow thanks to climatology. 

 

We should see some flurries from the NWF snow on Saturday night if that low tracks to our south.  The way this year has gone I wouldn't be surprised to see something pop up 3-4 days out.  The gfs has been hinting at long range cutoff potential for the past few runs and we all know how difficult those tracks are to predict.  The cold looks to continue to occasionally invade the area so until we lose that potential I think we will still see the possibility for snowfall, even down into valley.  The rest of NC is a whole different story as this is where our 2200' really give us a snowfall advantage.  I don't think anything huge is possible but I wouldn't be surprised to see another one or two inch event with bigger snowfall for the higher mountains.  I can definitely see where Robert is coming from, he is one of the best.

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Maybe top of the mountains, but it's hard to see Asheville or valley towns getting anymore snow thanks to climatology. 

I'll never forget I think it was April 3rd 1987 I was wearing shorts delivering the mail on Friday and that Saturday morning it was snowing and I mean hard all day in Asheville and we ended up with like 10 or 12 inches of heavy wet snow and we couldn't deliver the mail it was so bad.  I have seen snow flurries in Asheville in May.

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Maybe top of the mountains, but it's hard to see Asheville or valley towns getting anymore snow thanks to climatology. 

actually Asheville does pretty good this time of year with a heavy snowfall from the cutoff lows more so than a storm in the dead of winter I think.

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We should see some flurries from the NWF snow on Saturday night if that low tracks to our south.  The way this year has gone I wouldn't be surprised to see something pop up 3-4 days out.  The gfs has been hinting at long range cutoff potential for the past few runs and we all know how difficult those tracks are to predict.  The cold looks to continue to occasionally invade the area so until we lose that potential I think we will still see the possibility for snowfall, even down into valley.  The rest of NC is a whole different story as this is where our 2200' really give us a snowfall advantage.  I don't think anything huge is possible but I wouldn't be surprised to see another one or two inch event with bigger snowfall for the higher mountains.  I can definitely see where Robert is coming from, he is one of the best.

Ya April snow is not uncommon for the mountains. I have seen several Easter were there was snow on the ground and temps in the teens.

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00/06Z NAM overnight keeps that light snow in the mountains Saturday night. Nothing before the 850 low passes overhead. Needed that south of course. NAM backed off a bit at 06Z but still shows light snow. Sugar remains open through this weekend - impressive run! :ski:

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Thanks to our Member MountainVann for taking the time to capture the EPIC skiing on Sugar Mountain Wednesday and Thursday this week.   All in all, i'd say they were the BEST 2 days of the season.   Perfect conditions, bluebird skies and no lift lines.

 

Sorta jealous I could not get off to ski Wednesday and Thursday but work comes first.

 

Vann:  Thanks for taking these pictures and making everyone's day !

 

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Vann also made a video of a run down the mountain:

 

 

 

 

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I'll never forget I think it was April 3rd 1987 I was wearing shorts delivering the mail on Friday and that Saturday morning it was snowing and I mean hard all day in Asheville and we ended up with like 10 or 12 inches of heavy wet snow and we couldn't deliver the mail it was so bad. I have seen snow flurries in Asheville in May.

I think that was the same storm that dropped a bunch of snow in central Alabama (including Birmingham). Crazy.

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12z Euro gives KAVL .9" of frozen precip. Sunday morning.  Looks to lay down 2"-3"+ totals on the TN/NC border.

 

 

Edit: Wow ensemble only has 3 members with no accumulation Sunday morning.  The deterministic has 1.5" and the ensemble mean is 1.1"

The NWS has snow for us Saturday night and Sunday morning. Winter just wont give up!

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