It may be a few days early but I’m unofficially declaring the beginning of winter. :-)
A major storm began pushing its way northeast up the eastern part of the U.S. today. Here in the piedmont of North Carolina what began in the morning as rain, freezing rain and sleet turned into a genuine heavy snow by 2pm and is scheduled to continue until midday tomorrow.
The roads are incredibly slick with ice and snow and accidents are abundant. People here don’t have the driving skills to handle much snow or ice.
The N.C. Mountains, west of us, may get over 14 inches of accumulation while we are expecting perhaps 6-8″. Cold temperatures are moving in and some of the snow may remain on the ground for at least a partially white Christmas.
My daughter, who lives in the mountains (Asheville, NC), is without electricity tonight with heavy snows still falling. Luckily she has a fireplace and wood to burn for heat.
The long range forecast is calling for a chance of more snow on Christmas Eve.
And so, unofficially, winter begins…
The idea of winter is more tolerable if you are not contemplating traveling! We are headed to Boston on Tuesday and when I lasted checked the weather service forecast, the high temperature was twenty degrees. It looks like a trip to the outdoor store for gloves will be in order before heading east!
I’d think a definite on those gloves for Boston! :-)
Your snow falling picture fits the description of your deteriorating weather. Sounds like a white Christmas there for sure. We have patches of snow on the lawns, but bare streets and rain this morning. I’m glad your daughter has a fireplace. Even then no electricity is a bummer!
A white Christmas is very rare here…it would be nice to have some snow on the ground as long as the roads are clear. I want my cake and eat it too! ;-)
We have been weaving in and out the weather yesterday and today. Now in Richmond where there is plenty of snow and still falling. Hopefully we fly out in the morning. Yes, winter seems to have come a couple days early. Hope all is okay with your daughter. I love the use of slow shutter speed in your image.
My daughters electricity came back on at 1:30pm today. She said the worst of it was being so bored. Oh, to be young! ;-)
I think the bulk of it has missed us for now, but more seems to be on the way. I have already read about record snowfalls for this December in more than 70 years!
Yea, weather like this makes it easier for people to argue there’s no such thing as global warming but for me it clearly marks the weather patterns are perhaps more unstable which would seem to indicate something is afoot.
The snowfall pattern was interesting. I drove back into Charlotte on Friday evening. When I left Charleston, it was raining and 52 degrees. When I got to Charlotte, it was raining and 32 degrees. As far as I know, we didn’t see a bit of snow, but perhaps there was a little bit in the afternoon.
I heard some people talking at the gas station about how much snow Lincolnton and Gastonia, both west of here, got a lot of snow. Now I see that you, who are east of us, got snow also. I just it just split up and went around Charlotte. We had nothing but some ice on tree branches. That’s it.
I think the key to getting snow from this storm in NC was west and north. While Salisbury is east of Charlotte it’s also north, a little farther north then Mooresville. We got about 3-4″ total. Charlotte was right on the border line and only a few miles from that rain being freezing rain or snow. I’m glad you didn’t have to drive into the road conditions that were here last night. :-)