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Flood Watch Extended Until Friday Night, Ray’s Weather on YTD Rain Totals: If It’s Not Unprecedented, It’s Close

Watauga Bike 2
That’s not a river; that’s a road. Bikers and hikers traverse Old Watauga River Road near Sugar Grove on Thursday despite the road being flooded. Photo by Jesse Wood

By Jesse Wood

July 5, 2013. The rainy weather didn’t deter folks from attending the Fourth of July parade in downtown Boone, and it didn’t prevent the adventurous, such as those in the photo above, from enjoying some recreational activities on Old Watauga River Road, which has lately become an extension of Watauga River near Valle Crucis, on Thursday afternoon.

As of 9 a.m. Friday morning, it has rained more than 7 inches in downtown Boone and more than it rained during the entire month of June, according to RaysWeather.com.

This morning the National Weather Service extended its Flash Flood Watch for Ashe and Watauga into the evening as “periods of heavy rain [are] expected again today.”

“Bands of showers and thunderstorms may produce rainfall rates of up to two inches per hour. Repeated bands of localized heavy rain may result in rainfall amounts of one to three inches this evening,” noted the NWS at 5 a.m. on Friday.

Ray’s Weather forecasts rain everyday until at least next Friday – when the forecast stops – in Boone.

Under a heading, “Unbelievable,” Ray’s Weather said a “quick survey” of area weather stations note that 4.5 to eight inches of rain has occurred in the High Country during the first four days in July.

“Many locations are running at all-time record rainfall to date for the year. If it’s not ‘unprecedented,’ it’s close,” Ray’s Weather mentioned.