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The High Country’s Cold Spell Comes To An End; Temperatures Warm Up Starting on Thursday

By Tzar Wilkerson

The recent cold front should be coming to an end after today. The low temperatures that we’ve experienced this week will be gradually warming up as we approach the weekend, with highs in the 70s Thursday through Sunday. According to Ray’s Weather Center, “It’s safe to say we won’t experience a morning this cool again until October.”

The low temperature in Boone dipped down to 45 degrees on Monday and 43 degrees on Tuesday. Wednesday morning offered up the coldest low temperature of 35.7 degrees, the lowest temperature since April 15 when Boone residents woke up to 35.4 degrees. In Blowing Rock, the lowest temperature reported was 39 degrees on Tuesday morning. It was 43 degrees on Monday morning and 44 degrees on Wednesday morning.

At higher elevations, temperatures were even chillier the past three days. On top of Snake Mountain, the low temperature reached 34.3 degrees on Tuesday. At both Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain, the morning temperatures on Tuesday nearly reached freezing at 33.2 degrees.  

If you happened to wake up early enough today, you may have even seen some frost on grass and other plants. Not to worry; Ray’s Weather also reports that “while we don’t have widespread frost this morning, it’s nothing out of the ordinary according to the weather calendar. The culprit, an antecedent cool airmass and ideal radiational cooling conditions overnight with clear skies and calm wind.” So keep in mind that just because your plants are frosty, it doesn’t mean they’ve frozen. Frost can occur in temperatures over freezing under the right conditions, usually because of a thin layer of dew that coats them on humid nights. So don’t be afraid to leave your plants outside for the rest of the summer because of a little frost, because today is probably the last day you’ll see any.

With the warmer Summer weather comes the chance of Summer rains – Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday all have a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms, with highs remaining in the high 70s and lows in the upper 50s.