Forecast Last Updated at Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 7:44AM

Snow Showers & Flurries Ending This Morning; Cold

Snow showers and flurries will end this morning with little if any new accumulation. The Smokies were the big "winners" yesterday taking the brunt of this southwest flow snow event. In our area, most picked up 1"-3", higher elevations and western upslope areas near the TN/NC line were in the 2"-6" range, but a dusting at most for lower elevations east near the Blue Ridge. With the banding nature of this event, snow amounts were not uniform so isolated higher totals occurred. Expect a cold Tuesday; however, temperatures will become milder tonight at higher elevations. Wednesday will be relatively mild (still below normal). A front will move through Thursday morning with a few showers; then colder air returns Thursday afternoon but more so Thursday night.

The 2009 RWC Calendars are on sale now. Calendars are showing up in stores now. $2 from the sale of every calendar will go to the Hospitality House Combined Campaign.

Tuesday Hi: 33 Lo: 23 Mostly to partly cloudy; Snow showers & flurries ending in the AM; Cold; Rising temps tonight at higher elev's; WNW wind 5-15 mph becoming light tonight

Wednesday Hi: 47 Lo: 34 Mostly sunny day; Increasing clouds at night; Milder; SW wind 5-15 mph, but 15-25 mph Wed night at higher elev's

Thursday Hi: 43 Lo: 24 Mostly cloudy; Falling temps from AM highs; AM showers; Wind becoming NW 10-20 mph with gusts to 40 mph

Friday Hi: 32 Lo: 19 Partly cloudy; Cold

Saturday Hi: 34 Lo: 21 Mostly cloudy; Snow showers or flurries mostly at night; Turning much colder at night

Further Out

Sunday - Scattered clouds; Very cold; High in the upper 20s; Low in the lower 20s
Monday - Mostly clear; Milder; High in the lower 40s; Low in the lower 30s

Forecast Discussion

A quick note on web site traffic... Our weather sites delivered 161,237 web pages between midnight Monday morning and 7:15 AM Tuesday morning. Data traffic peaked Monday morning at 10.3 megabits per second.

Here are some snowfall totals thus far for a few select areas:
Western Ashe Co (Flatwoods): 5"-6"
Burnsville: 5.5"
Trade: 4.5"
Beech Mountain: 4.3"
Hump Mountain (Avery County): 4"
Sugar Mountain: 3"
Wolf Laurel: 3"
Avery county lower elevations: 1"-2"
Vilas: 2"
Little Switzerland: 1.6"
Boone: 1.5"
Yancey county (Burnsville): 1.5"
Bakersville: 0.5"
Spruce Pine: Dusting
If you have a snow total outside the amounts outlined here. Please let us know at Contact Us page.

Snow showers and flurries will end quickly this morning leaving us with a cold day. It will be windy early this morning but winds will gradually diminish becoming light tonight. Tonight temperatures will be very cold in valleys but rise at higher elevations.

Wednesday will be milder, but temperatures will still be at or below normal for early December. Clouds will increase Wednesday night as a front approaches from the west.

That front will move through our area Thursday morning with a few showers. Colder air will settle in during the afternoon; however, the much colder air will not be felt until Thursday night. Friday looks cold and dry.

The weekend forecast still has question marks, but here's what we think... After a cold start to the day Saturday (especially in the valleys), clouds will overtake the region ahead of a clipper-type system approaching from the NW. Any precipitation during the daytime will be very light (if at all) in the form of flurries. As much colder air arrives Saturday night, another round of snow showers (west) and flurries (east) will be possible. Sunday looks very cold. Then temperatures will begin to moderate Monday.

Announcements

The 2009 RaysWeather.Com Calendar

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Calendars also available from these fine merchants:

Boone area
• Shoppes at Farmers Hardware
• Mast General Store
• Footsloggers
• Highland Newstand
• Outersanctum Salon
• County Inn and Suites
• Stick Boy Bread Company
• Bare Essentials
• Conrad's Coffee
• Dan'l Boone Inn
• ASU Bookstore
• Mountain Lumber
Banner Elk/Newland area
• Ericks Wine and Cheese
• Foscoe Fishing
• Mountain Jewelers
• Avery Pharmacy
• Cannon Memorial Hospital Gift Shop
• Fred's General Merchantile
Jefferson area
• Sallie Mae's Emporium