Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
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Updated again Sunday:According to Charlotte meteorologist Brad Panovich, for some parts of WNC this week’s storm is expected to be the worst since the blizzard of 1993. Snow is not the major danger; wind and power outages are.
For Asheville, it looks like cold weather, high winds, 0-2 inches of snow in city limits, and a chance of power outages due to strong winds.
The worst of the storm will be Tuesday, and the worst of the cold is headed straight for North Carolina.
Latest forecasts from Panovich’s model are for 2-6 inches of snow in the Asheville area (0-2 in the city of Asheville), with high winds that could bring down tree limbs. Winds are expected to be 30-40 MPH with possible gusts of 60-80 MPH (winds of 74 MPH are considered hurricane force).
Great, informative video here, with WNC info around the two minute mark. Stay tuned to Ashvegas for more weather info:
FYI, NYC should expect a record storm surge and record floods, and West Virginia is currently expected to receive 20 inches of snow.
Updated Sunday: Still looking like only 1-2 inches for Asheville, but meteorologist brad Panovich of Charlotte’s WNC advises WNC residents to pay attention to the High Wind Warning as well.
Numerous watches & warnings for the western Carolinas the 2 biggest and most important are the High Wind Warning and The Winter Storm Watch. Here’s a look at model snowfall from this morning.
Here’s a snowfall model from Monday morning. Click to see it full sized.
The French Broad River Valley and the Asheville area won’t see much snow, with just a light dusting on higher elevations. But the northern mountains — northern Madison, Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties are looking at 4-7 inches with some local higher elevations due for 10-12 inches, Krentz said.
By 5 p.m. Sunday, the air temperature in most of Western North Carolina will be in the 40s, with a wind chill making it feel like the mid-30s. The low overnight Sunday into Monday will hit 36, with the high Monday only reaching 48, 18 degrees below normal.
The rest of the week isn’t much more comfortable, with highs of 44 on Tuesday and 50 on Wednesday. By Thursday we’ll be in the mid-50s.
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If I’m reading this NOAA map right, looks like a 40 percent chance of snow for Asheville.
Snowfall model for the WNC mountains. Looks like about an inch…