UPDATED Asheville residents frolic in record-setting snow as city slowly recovers

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UPDATE Thursday morning, with snow totals ranging from 6 inches on up, residents remained hunkered down. Wednesday night, folks were getting out in the snow to ski, kayak and snow board city streets. Emergency officials urged people to stay home if at all possible to allow easier snow plowing for crews.

UPDATE: Just a reminder: snowfall numbers shared by local meteorologists are TOTALS, the estimated final tally of snowfall when the storm is done. We haven’t yet seen major changes in snowfall predictions, and heavy snowfall finally began this afternoon. (Display photo by @AshevilleSegway.)

According to the Weather Channel at 4 p.m., 3-5 inches of snow will fall by 9 p.m. tonight, with snowfall continuing until early tomorrow morning.

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WEDNESDAY UPDATES

Around 7:30, Ray’s Weather Center released a new map, nearly unchanged. 6-12 inches for all of Buncombe County.

WCNC-TV Charlotte meteorologist Brad Panovich writes on Facebook, “The winter storm is literally knocking on our southern door starts in the next 2 hours, gets bad by 11am. If you go out be home by 12pm please.”

Around 8 a.m., the NWS in Morristown, Tenn. upped Asheville’s predicted snow totals to 8-12.

Local Yokel of Cullowhee forecasts 4-7 inches in Asheville proper.

Buckle up, Asheville.

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According to Ray’s Weather Center on Facebook tonight, snow will start Wednesday morning, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Jason Boyer of WLOS weighs in at 7 p.m Tuesday. Prediction: 6-12 inches in Asheville. Boyer also states that this storm could put Asheville “in the top ten” for all-time snow accumulation within twenty-four hours:

I have put a swath of 5-10″ over the I-85 corridor in the Upstate right across much of Greenville, Spartanburg & Cherokee County. For the mountains and foothills, I have upgraded the snow totals to 8-14″. Still thinking 6-12″ will suffice for most other areas over Western North Carolina.

We are still likely to see numerous power outages and dangerous to impossible travel by sunset tomorrow.

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The latest from the National Weather Service at 6:33 p.m. Tuesday is here:

* ACCUMULATIONS…SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 6 TO 10 INCHES…ALONG WITH AROUND A TRACE OF ICE.

* IMPACTS…HEAVY SNOW WILL MAKE TRAVEL TREACHEROUS. THE ACCUMULATIONS MAY ALSO CREATE POWER OUTAGES…ESPECIALLY
WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING.

Instructions: A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL…BE SURE TO TAKE ALONG YOUR CELL PHONE. WEAR A WARM COAT…GLOVES…AND BOOTS. KEEP A BLANKET… FLASHLIGHT…FOOD…AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. PLEASE REPORT SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS…AS WELL AS ANY DAMAGE TO TREES OR STRUCTURES…BY CALLING THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOLL FREE AT…1-800-267-8101. LEAVE A MESSAGE WITH YOUR OBSERVATION AND THE SPECIFIC LOCATION WHERE IT OCCURRED. YOU CAN ALSO POST YOUR REPORT TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG FACEBOOK OR TWEET YOUR REPORT USING HASHTAG NWSGSP.

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From 3:58 p.m. Tuesday, an NWS snowfall forecast map for our area. Looks like 8-10 inches for Asheville proper, more in the higher elevations.

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From Brad Panovich at WCNC Charlotte at about 4 p.m. Tuesday. Prediction: 6-10 inches for Asheville:

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And from Ray’s Weather Center early Tuesday morning. Prediction: 6-10 inches for all of Buncombe.

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And the Red Cross needs volunteers. Stay safe, Asheville.

Maybe THIS will kill the stink bugs.

18 Comments

Del February 14, 2014 - 12:25 pm

Can someone explain what record this set? Otherwise stop using ‘record-setting’ when we’re talking about less than a foot.

Jason Sandford February 14, 2014 - 12:37 pm

Del, it was a record snowfall for that date in Asheville.

Matt February 12, 2014 - 10:23 pm

If you are reading this and it’s still Wednesday night and you haven’t been out yet, be sure to get outside. It’s gorgeous. There is a near full moon behind the clouds and it is lighting up the whole night like permanent twilight. The snow fall is heavy and pretty in a way that is rare around here. 🙂

theOtherBarry February 12, 2014 - 11:10 pm

And all the really nasty freezing rain/sleet etc. that was heading for us, dodged to the east instead, leaving us this perfect snowy night…

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108366839/sno2.JPG

USS Smiley February 12, 2014 - 5:49 pm

So what bar is everyone riding out Winter Storm “Pisgax Vortex II”?

theOtherBarry February 12, 2014 - 2:56 pm

So far, winter storm “Go To Ingles And Buy Every Slice Of Bread They Have” is taking it pretty easy on Asheville:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108366839/sno.JPG

theOtherBarry February 12, 2014 - 3:02 pm

…but I’m told we shouldn’t get complacent. Winter storm “Get To Orbit DVD Now Before There’s No More The Americans Left” could still wallop us.

Kim Roney February 12, 2014 - 6:49 pm

If you’re gonna rent, do it locally, and check out Cutie and the Boxer!

theOtherBarry February 12, 2014 - 9:37 pm

I haven’t been out in hours, but I gotta suspect at this point, it would take one of those Chinese icebreaker ships to get to Orbit DVD. Cutie and the Boxer will have to hunker down & wait til tomorrow.

Jafo February 12, 2014 - 2:46 pm

Pax is the same name as my vaporizer….Coincidence?

AVL LVR February 12, 2014 - 8:50 am

The weather channel says 2″-4″ today.

Smytty February 12, 2014 - 9:44 am

My Weather Channel app says 2-4″ today, 5-8″ tonight. That’s a pretty good hit.

Harry Sax February 11, 2014 - 11:04 pm

I think I may adapt a cat this week since there’s so many pussies in this area

smytty February 12, 2014 - 8:02 am

I encourage you to spay and neuter, but not declaw if you are interested in cat adaptation.

XingXang February 11, 2014 - 8:25 pm

For cripes sake, please don’t encourage the use of the stupid Weather Channel winter storm names! “Pax”? Seriously?

theOtherBarry February 11, 2014 - 8:51 pm

I agree, but this may be preferable for what’s coming: “The Mad Men Season 6 DVD Box Set winter weather storm system”…

Orbit DVD February 12, 2014 - 11:56 am

Actually, this storm is THE AMERICANS SEASON 1, brought to you by FX.

mike February 12, 2014 - 12:36 pm

Amen. There’s no such thing as “winter storm Pax” or any other name for a winter storm. It’s just a marketing ploy dreamed up by the Weather Channel. Please do not help spread this travesty.

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