Today is going to be a mixed bag of weather. Currently, Watauga and Avery counties are under both flood watches and winter weather advisories. How often does that happen?! Most places in the area saw between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain yesterday. We’ll only see about a quarter inch more today as the cold front pushes through the region. The rain showers will taper off by midday. Colder northwest winds behind the front are expected to lead to the development of snow showers beginning this afternoon and lasting throughout the night. The NWS is saying accumulations at higher elevations, such as Beech and Sugar, can be expected to be in the 2-4″ range, with locally higher amounts possible along the Tennessee border. Lower elevated areas like Boone can expect a dusting, maybe even a half inch.
Tomorrow will consist of clearing skies and a return to sunshine by midday. It will be windy though, with gusts between 30 and 40 mph. Temperatures will be fairly chilly with highs only in the 30’s. Saturday offers a drastic warmup as temperatures will rise into the upper 50’s and blue skies will prevail. A fast moving clipper system will cross the region Saturday night. Precipitation is not expected though, but temperatures on Sunday will be 5-10 degrees cooler than Saturday as a result.