First Round of Snow Showers Winding Down Across the High Country; More on the Way Friday and Saturday

Hwy. 105 near Ingles Grocery store at noon today.

By Nathan Ham

Residents in the High Country woke up to some slick roads and a couple of inches of snow on the ground as the first round of snow showers started last night and is slowly tapering off on Thursday morning.

Watauga County, Ashe County and Avery County Schools all closed today and Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute delayed its class schedule until noon today.

Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain both reported three inches of snow overnight.

This is just the start of the snow as we head towards the weekend, according to Thursday morning’s forecast update from Ray’s Weather Center. Another low-pressure storm system will move through the area Friday and Saturday with snow starting again Friday morning and continuing off and on throughout the afternoon, evening, overnight and Saturday morning. Another two inches of snow is possible for most of the High Country with higher elevations receiving at least another 2-4 inches.

Temperatures will remain chilly with overnight lows expected to stay in the lower 20s on Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night with highs hovering around freezing.

A little warmth and a lot of sunshine return to the forecast on Sunday with a high temperature expected to be in the upper 40s and lots of clouds.

The current Winter Weather Advisory is expected to expire at noon today while the wind advisory will continue until 7 p.m. this evening. Winds will still be 15-25 MPH with gusts up to 50 MPH possible.

At Grandfather Mountain, a wind gust of 84.8 MPH was reported just before 6 a.m. this morning. The wind chill at that time was 15 degrees below zero. Currently, the wind chill at the swinging bridge is 12 degrees below zero.

Photos were taken around noon on Thursday in different areas across Boone.

Downtown Boone at noon today.