By Nathan Ham
The High Country has had a very wet week so far with rain moving in Monday night and not letting up so far through Wednesday afternoon. A slow-moving storm system moved across the southeast and has dropped between 2-4 inches of rain through most areas of the High Country already with another inch or two expected overnight Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Weather Service has continued its Flood Watch through 8 a.m. Thursday morning for Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Watauga, and Wilkes counties.
Total rainfall amounts of 3-7 inches are expected with locally higher amounts possible.
On Wednesday morning, Ashe County Emergency Management listed 16 roads that are impassable due to flood bridges. Those roads included Double Springs Church Road, Roundabout Road, Brown Road, Liberty Grove Church Road, Methodist Camp Road, Bare Road, North Fulton Reeves Road, Hartzog Ford Road, Low Water Bridge Road, Lue Jones Road, Ed Little Road, New River Bridge Road, Clifton Road, McNeil Road, Campbell Road, and Teaberry Road.
In the latest forecast from Ray’s Weather Center, the rain will continue Thursday with temperatures slowly climbing into the upper 50s. The storm system begins to move our of the area on Friday and warmer weather returns with highs in the upper 60s with showers and thunderstorms still possible. The weekend looks much nicer with highs in the mid-70s and quite a bit of sunshine. There will still be a chance of widely scattered showers or a pop-up thunderstorm possible over the Memorial Day Weekend.
24-Hour Rainfall Reports
*Data provided by Ray’s Weather Center
Aho – 2.70 inches
Beech Mountain – 2.20 inches
Boone – 1.99 inches
Blowing Rock – 3.28 inches
Deep Gap – 2.55 inches
Linville – 1.39 inches
Sugar Mountain – 2.43 inches
Valle Crucis – 2.03 inches
Warrensville – 2.32 inches
West Jefferson – 1.82 inches
Zionville – 1.94 inches