First Time to Grandfather Mtn. Tomorrow!!!

[ButtercupMcToots]

Originally Posted by hymnsinger

Driving Sunday night (12/12/10) in the Boone area will be treacherous, possibly deadly. I'm not overstating this! If we are under a Winter Storm WARNING, DO NOT drive up here!! At the least it will be a boring stay in the motel room, at worst you will be involved in a wreck. By Tuesday the roads should be passable.

If you're in a 4x4 you MIGHT be able to make it up to the ski areas. If you wait until Tuesday you will have a great trip and will enjoy your stay. If you do come up anyway, drive slow in the snow, have an emergency kit (water/snacks/blankets) in the car in case you end up in a ditch, and make sure your phones are charged. *47 is the # for the highway patrol.

Do not be fooled. It will rain until you hit about 3000' feet normally about 20 minutes outside of Boone. That 20 minutes will take you at least an hour or more and will be the most dangerous part of your trip. You will not be able to see more than 2 car lengths ahead. Keep a very close eye on the weather, 7-Day Forecast for Latitude 36.2°N and Longitude 81.66°W right now forecasters are forecasting winds Sunday night in the 60 mph range. If you hit a patch of ice, you WILL be off the road.

PLEASE wait until Tuesday!! The ski slopes will still be here, I promise. Grandfather Mountain will be closed probably until at least Thursday. Unless you want to experience blizzard conditions firsthand, be smart and wait.

I'm a pastor, a pilot, and a weather geek! You can trust me!!

Seriously, Tracey

Tracey, no one ever goes in a ditch around here in an area with cell phone service.

[LiveLoveLaugh]

EVERYONE in the High Country is taking this storm very seriously. Blizzard conditions are expected sun evening and all day monday. I agree w/ Tracey....it is NO time to be on the road. Tonight we are expecting sleet turning to snow....that is NOT the worst of it...it's tomorrow afternoon/ evening when the 'SHOW' begins. Don't take a chance of ending up in a ditch, by tomorrow if the storm takes the projected path the warning will be STAY OFF THE ROADS. God forbid someone spins or slides....FORGET the cell phone....someone could (God forbid) be having a heart attack and the road needs to be accessible to emergency vehicles. CAPISH????? I stocked up today as others did, mainly horse feed, dog food....I won't starve but I can't give my horses a can of Cambells soup! Stay warm, stay safe, I even have my oil lamps ready in case the power goes out (during the night) According to the forecast we may feel like we are in the movie "The Shining"....YES...it could be THAT BAD.

[LiveLoveLaugh]

ps, I live in the High Country.

[hymnsinger]

I got my hay and feed in, the wood stacked on the porch, full propane tank for my no electric cooking/heating, full tank of gas in the car, car pointed downhill . . . I'm ready! we are close enough in the foothills to never know just what it's going to do here. We'll probably get sleet/rain/snow but not much. I do have to go "up the mountain" to Blowing Rock in the morning. That church thing ya know . . . If it turns colder sooner than expected and there's ice I stay home. I'm not preaching so it's no big deal. My windy (like a watch not windy weather) twisty roads are not treated EVER and ice easily. I'm supposed to have a food pantry delivery from Second Harvest Food Bank on Monday . . . yeah, right! Another day in the life!

Tracey

[hymnsinger]

Originally Posted by ButtercupMcToots

Tracey, no one ever goes in a ditch around here in an area with cell phone service.

People go into ditches all the time up here, usually because they're ON their cell phones!!

If it is really bad and a car slides off the road there is no guarantee that they will have any cell service up here, or that EMS will be able to get to them even if they have a signal. We have many places up here that don't have service at all, my home being one of them, the entire parkway in this area is a dead zone, most of Ashe County is a dead zone, and about 1/2 of Blowing Rock doesn't get a signal ether. This is not Asheville.

Our winter weather in the NW corner is more akin to Minnesota but with mountains. And our snow usually melts after a week or so. But when we get a really bad blow, 2" of snow/hr w/30mph winds gusting to 50 and visibility down to less than 1/4 mile, rescue can't get to people who are stranded, cell phone or not. It's just common sense to have water, snacks and a blanket just in case. NCHP will tell you (on your cell phone no less) to run your car engine 10 minutes every 30 for heat, crack a window for fresh air, and hunker down until they can get to you. You've never been stranded in a blizzard, have you?

Banner Elk in Avery County is forecast to get a foot of snow before Tuesday. I have a friend up there, new to the area, who put his car in a ditch last week. It's still there! (And he has a cell phone too. Who knew?) I tried to tell him, "Don't rent for the winter on Beech Mountain!" Did he listen, no and now he and his family are stuck up there for who knows how long!! His wife is a tad ticked off . . .

Geesh

I really hope the forecasters are totally wrong about this one and it turns into a non-event. That would make me VERY happy!

Tracey

[hymnsinger]

This just in . . .


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING ABOVE 3000 FEET FOR HEAVY SNOW...WHICH
IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON SUNDAY TO 7 AM EST TUESDAY. A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TONIGHT TO NOON EST SUNDAY.



* ACCUMULATION...1 TO 3 INCHES OF MAINLY SNOW TONIGHT...FOLLOWED
BY 6 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW.

* TIMING...EARLY ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LATE TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY
MORNING...WITH HEAVIER SNOW SHOWERS SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
MONDAY NIGHT.

* IMPACTS...SNOW AND ICE COVERED ROADS INCLUDING BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW.

* WINDS...NORTHWEST AT 15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH.

* VISIBILITIES...ZERO AT TIMES.

* TEMPERATURES...FALLING INTO THE TEENS BY SUNDAY NIGHT AND
SINGLE DIGITS BY MONDAY NIGHT.

* WIND CHILL...ZERO TO AS LOW AS 15 BELOW.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...


A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW
ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN
EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD...
AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING.

THE PUBLIC IS ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS...OR ICE
ACCUMULATION TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VIA EMAIL AT
RNK.SKYWARN@NOAA.GOV OR AT PHONE NUMBER 1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2
4.FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...VISIT US ON THE WEB AT
HTTP://WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV OR AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV.

[LiveLoveLaugh]

Winter storm warning posted here too....ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY....to the OP, I highly doubt Grandfather Mountain will be open tomorrow, I hope you reschedule and have a FABULOUS trip!

[Touge07]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

What is your name, we'll watch the news. haha

AAhaaa ha ha...you're soo funny, you should be a stand up comedian...

[Touge07]

Thanks for the warnings and all the weather input you guys put in. It still sucks that i opened this thread to know what to do up there and we could not keep it in track, somebody should have opened a weather thread for that. Anyways...i did go and had an awesome time! I arrived at Boone at 6am with snow everywhere and drove fine all day. Went to the Appalachian Ski Mountain and skied from 9 til 3 pm. Then we went sight seeing, ate, walked around. We will be going back in January when the snow is not to bad so we can go to Grandfathers Mntn. By the way if you have an AWD vehicle i don't see what the problem is, i drove a FWD civic for 5 hours and it was not hard...