…AND IT STARTS! WINTER STORM ARRIVES ON SCHEDULE

The second major snowfall for Western North Carolina arrived right on schedule and as predicted. What has been billed as “round 2” marched its way across the mid-west and arrived in Haywood County, North Carolina right on time. The first snow showers could be seen rolling over Richland Balsam and through Balsam Gap at 2:00 p.m. The temperature on Main Street in Waynesville dropped from 42 degrees to 36 degrees in the space of 30 minutes and the light snow quickly began to show up on the Courthouse lawn and nearby roads.

A quick inch of snow had fallen within the hour at our home in Bethel. We sit at 2895’ elevation. The birds were obviously anticipating this event as they have been cleaning out the feeders for the last two days. Thus far, the snowfall has not deterred them from their “eating rounds.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve placed my trusty measuring stick in a good spot to capture the snowfall depth and will make some educated guesses at the snowfall rate as we go through the evening hours.

(Time image taken: 3:50 p.m. EST) 

Here are a couple more shots of the beginning of this storm. More to come…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with a cycling blog? Well, that’s an easy one… It means I’ll be riding the trainer for the next two days!

 

Storm update at 18:00 hours 01/29/2010

Snow has continued to fall at a steady pace with only a brief letup approximately 30 minutes ago. We are again receiving heavy snow. The barometric pressure is remaining above 30” but is now beginning to fall. A quick view of the radar map on Weatherunderground shows that the vast majority of the storm is still to our west and headed this way.

(Time stamp of 17:55 hours – 4.5” of snow accumulation) 

Until later,

- Zeke