By Nathan Ham
High Country residents woke up to a little snow on the ground and some more cleaning up to do after blustery winds continued through the night bringing down tree limbs and scattering more debris.
Several roads had moisture freeze again over night, forcing schools to cancel after initially expecting to operate on a two-hour delay.
In Boone, the highest wind gust recorded so far reached 42 MPH at 12:59 a.m. Friday morning. Wind gusts have measured in at 33 MPH in Linville, 26 MPH in Valle Crucis and 19 MPH in Blowing Rock. Windy conditions will continue across the High Country throughout most of the day, although not nearly as strong as overnight Thursday and early Friday morning. Temperatures will remain cold on Friday with high temperatures in the area expecting to stay in the upper 30s or maybe reaching 40 degrees. A wind advisory remains in effect until noon on Friday.
This first winter storm of the year was certainly hard on a lot of areas in Watauga, Avery and Ashe counties. All three counties had to cancel school Thursday and Friday and there are still over 2,000 people without power in Ashe County as of 10 a.m. Some households have not had power for over 24 hours now. In Watauga, 463 customers are still without power.
However, a stretch of nice weather is in store. According to the latest forecast from Ray’s Weather Center, there will be a lot of sunshine from now through Thanksgiving with high temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s which are near average for this time of year.
Pictures from Friday Morning at 8:00
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