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Rain is Taking a Vacation in the High Country Through Friday, Watch Out For Flooding

By Jesse Wood

Visitors to ASU attempt to stay dry on a rainy Wednesday. FIle photo by Ken Ketchie
While this is a file photo from 2013, this is about what the campus will look like this week. FIle photo by Ken Ketchie

The High Country went from having one week of perfect weather for this time of year to being in the middle of rainstorm for the second straight week.

Ray Russell of RaysWeather.com measured 7.39 inches of rain near Bamboo Gap from Thursday evening to Monday morning. Last week, RaysWeather.com revised its forecast for this onslaught of persistent rain.

“I have never seen rain continuously for 80 hours. 
Overnight rain tapers off this morning. The rest of Monday has occasional rain and drizzle–not pretty, but maybe a break in the rain here and there,” RaysWeather.com noted in its forecast on Monday morning.

While a “conveyor belt of moisture” from the Atlantic Ocean will subside today, the next surge of tropical moisture will be upon us on Tuesday.

“Rain will be with us every day at least through Friday, maybe into Saturday. Now that the ground is saturated and rivers/creeks are full, flooding potential exists this week,” RaysWeather.com forecasts.

While the eastern half of the Appalachians received roughly 4 to 8 inches, here are some specific rain totals in the High Country, according to climate archives at RaysWeather.com:

  • Boone: 5.5 inches
  • Blowing Rock: 3.45 inches
  • Foscoe: 4.08 inches
  • Banner Elk: 4.83 inches
  • Beech Mountain: 5.08 inches

With a gloomy forecast ahead, stay dry out there.

On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook for potential flash flooding in several counties in Western North Carolina, including Avery County.