23 inches of snow, fierce winds hit parts of NC mountains during storm, NWS says
Snowfalls greater than 23 inches dumped on the North Carolina mountains during a storm Friday and Saturday that also delivered subfreezing temperatures and fierce, 45-mph winds, National Weather Service meteorologists said Saturday.
The heavy snow finally tapered off around noon, meteorologist Christiaan Patterson of the NWS office in Greer, South Carolina, told The Charlotte Observer.
The highest confirmed amount —23 1/2 inches —fell on a Yancey County ridge top about 4,500 feet high in the Great Smoky Mountains, she said.
Amounts may have been higher in other, inaccessible parts of the North Carolina mountains, Patterson said.
The NWS office received numerous snowfall reports from people across the mountains, so many that meteorologists were still sifting through them Saturday afternoon, she said.
Reports included 15 inches in the far northwest corner of Yancey County near Madison County and 16 inches on Mount LeConte in Tennessee, according to Patterson.
The next highest amounts included 8.7 inches in Madison County, 8.5 inches in Yancey County and 6.8 inches in Mitchell County, the NWS office reported.
NWS meteorologists on Friday warned drivers that mountain roads could be “dangerous” and to pack water and food and a warm blanket in their cars if they had to head out.
Communities under a winter storm warning issued by the NWS included Banner Elk, Newland, Mars Hill, Marshall, Burnsville, Spruce Pine, Bryson City, Waynesville, Canton and Robbinsville.
A live webcam view from Boone Friday morning showed heavy snow beginning to fall.
Just before midnight, the media site NC/TN HighCountryWX posted a photo on Twitter of a measurement ruler in the snow.
“How high the snow mama?” the site reported on Twitter. “20”and rising! (Measured in 5 different locations and all 20” or high).”
The NWS warned that heavy snow could topple trees and power lines and produce outages, according to a winter-weather alert early Friday. The warning was in effect until 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Duke Energy outage map showed about 3,000 customers without power at 2 p.m. Saturday in the mountains, primarily south of Asheville. About 1,300 customers in Henderson County had no electricity, and Duke Energy estimated that many wouldn’t see power until midnight.
The NWS issued a wind advisory until 9 p.m. Saturday for Avery, Yancey, Mitchell, Caldwell, Burke and McDowell counties. Gusts up to 45 mph were expected, meteorologists said.
“Patchy black ice” was expected to form on untreated roads, according to an NWS hazardous weather outlook bulletin Saturday afternoon.
Patterson said her office received no reports of injuries due to the storm.
The weather service said the wintry weather originated in the Great Lakes.
Charlotte forecast
Charlotte should remain partly to mostly sunny until Tuesday, when a 50% chance of showers emerges, according to the NWS Charlotte forecast at 3 p.m. Saturday. The chance of rain is predicted to increase to 80% by Thursday.
Charlotte saw a high of only 45 on Saturday. Highs should bump into the low 50s before warming into the mid-60s by later in the week, the forecast showed.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 12:58 PM.