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Snow Returns to the High Country Tuesday Morning, Prepare for Showers through Wednesday

By Bailey Faulkner

Winter is still in the air in the High Country! While the snow may have backed off in some areas in recent hours, it looks like this late winter storm isn’t quite finished. Here’s what some of the High Country’s weather experts have to say about our mid-March snow shower.

Fred’s General Mercantile in Beech Mountain

Durham Park on ASU campus

Fred’s General Mercantile, which operates the only Official National Weather Reporting station in the area, is located in the heart of snow-prone Beech Mountain. As of this morning, the weather station reports snowfall for the last 24 hours at two inches.

Snow continues to fall at Fred’s and in Beech Mountain, and many of the town’s roads remained covered in snow.

You can check out more of Fred’s weather information by clicking here.

Sugar Mountain Resort

Snow continues to fall at Sugar Mountain Resort this morning.  While the slopes have seen three inches of snow since the beginning of the storm, the resort’s website reminds skiers and boarders to ride on groomed areas only.

Working with a decent snowfall last night and this morning, Sugar Mountain is currently operating with four lifts and 10 open slopes. The average depth of snow is currently 18 – 50 inches, with this year’s total snowfall at the resort coming in at 39.3 inches.

The resort will be open for skiing and boarding from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. for day skiing with night skiing and riding open from 6 – 10 p.m. The tubing park is also open today with three lanes covered in a fresh layer of snow. Session times for tubing are scheduled for 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. The resort’s March Madness rates are also still in effect.

Ice skating will remain closed for the duration of the season.

You can click here to see a detailed map of open lanes and routes for today. You can also check out Sugar Mountain’s slope webcams here.

Ray’s Weather Center (Boone)

Above Kidd Brewer Stadium on ASU’s campus

Ray’s Weather Center projects that snow showers will “remain in the picture today, especially late this afternoon and tonight, and continue until Wednesday morning.” While Boone has yet to see the amount of snow that many projected for the storm, Ray’s weather asserts that this storm is a “slow ‘tortoise wins the race’ event to get to our snow totals.”

The weather center continues to expect the eastern third of Northwestern North Carolina to receive 1 – 3 inches of snow, with the western half of the region likely seeing 3 – 6 inches. High mountain peaks and westward facing slopes in the area can expect to see slightly increased snowfall.

Spring on Its Way

While this week’s snowstorm could potentially see significant levels of snowfall and some of the lowest temperatures of the season, don’t forget that this coming Monday, March 20 will mark the beginning of spring. While snow regularly falls during the spring season, you can expect slightly warmer temperatures coming after this week’s snow event. Ray’s Weather Center projects highs ranging from the low 40s to mid 50s for Sunday and Monday.

Check out these pictures of snowfall in the area!