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There was another big snow the following winter, but I don't remember the snowfall amount... I'm thinking it was about a foot or so. The 2000 snowstorm was the biggie though, no doubt. If I remember right, that same snowstorm system even dumped a couple of inches on Wilmington - and they never get any snow!
Yeah, I remember that too, but not the exact amount. Wilmington actually had a white Christmas in 1989, as well as about everyone in NC east of I-95. I was 12 years old living on my family's farm in between Wilson and Rocky Mount. We had an inch or 2 of snow followed by a heavy coating of sleet. I remember it took about a week for it to melt. It's the only recorded white Christmas for that part of the state, and it'll probably be the only white Christmas I'll ever see.
Yeah, I remember that too, but not the exact amount. Wilmington actually had a white Christmas in 1989, as well as about everyone in NC east of I-95. I was 12 years old living on my family's farm in between Wilson and Rocky Mount. We had an inch or 2 of snow followed by a heavy coating of sleet. I remember it took about a week for it to melt. It's the only recorded white Christmas for that part of the state, and it'll probably be the only white Christmas I'll ever see.
Yes, yes...that was a great winter! (I was 13) We lived in New Bern at the time. We had 15 inches of snow on the ground that Christmas in 89. Temp was minus 4 below zero! The Trent and Neuse Rivers were frozen! We drove to our grandmothers house in Wilson and there was only a couple inches! Needless to say, I could not wait to get back home that day!
The areas east of I-95 has had some big snowfalls since 2000. Much more snow than Raleigh area. I remember just two christmases ago on December 26th 04 I think it was. Here In Fuquay we got 2 inches. Wilson got 8 or 9 inches. This has happend several times in the past few winters.
Anyway, head to Boone to see the snow. Anytime an artic cold front moves through, it snows in Boone the next day. (lake effect snows off of the great lakes)
Yes, yes...that was a great winter! (I was 13) We lived in New Bern at the time. We had 15 inches of snow on the ground that Christmas in 89. Temp was minus 4 below zero! The Trent and Neuse Rivers were frozen! We drove to our grandmothers house in Wilson and there was only a couple inches! Needless to say, I could not wait to get back home that day!
The areas east of I-95 has had some big snowfalls since 2000. Much more snow than Raleigh area. I remember just two christmases ago on December 26th 04 I think it was. Here In Fuquay we got 2 inches. Wilson got 8 or 9 inches. This has happend several times in the past few winters.
Anyway, head to Boone to see the snow. Anytime an artic cold front moves through, it snows in Boone the next day. (lake effect snows off of the great lakes)
Re: Lake effect - ummmm - no. Lake effect snow bands virtually disappear after a 50 mile distance or so from the Great Lakes (I know this from several years of living in South Bend, Indiana, where lake effect snow is a very common thing). With the mountains and elevation in Boone, I think just any combination of moisture and bitter cold is all it takes for snow to develop there.
The "coastal snow" phenomenon is an interesting one to me. I would guess that if a winter-time nor'easter came through and the conditions were right, then a big snowfall would be possible for eastern NC, although with the way the Atlantic gulf stream moves up from the south, it's usually that same area that sees milder winter temps than the more inland areas like Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Greensboro. My best friend lives in Goldsboro and I have a habit of comparing temps all of the time - it's almost always a few degrees warmer there than Raleigh is.
My dad would occasionally recall a story about a bad snow storm that hit us when we were living in Craven County that dumped about a ton of snow back in the early 70's, when I was still a wee one. It's really hard to imagine it happening, but history has proven that it does. I think sometimes too much is made about how wacky modern weather is - crazy weather events happen all the time, it hasn't just been in the past few years!
Re: Lake effect - ummmm - no. Lake effect snow bands virtually disappear after a 50 mile distance or so from the Great Lakes (I know this from several years of living in South Bend, Indiana, where lake effect snow is a very common thing). With the mountains and elevation in Boone, I think just any combination of moisture and bitter cold is all it takes for snow to develop there.
The "coastal snow" phenomenon is an interesting one to me. I would guess that if a winter-time nor'easter came through and the conditions were right, then a big snowfall would be possible for eastern NC, although with the way the Atlantic gulf stream moves up from the south, it's usually that same area that sees milder winter temps than the more inland areas like Raleigh, Rocky Mount, and Greensboro. My best friend lives in Goldsboro and I have a habit of comparing temps all of the time - it's almost always a few degrees warmer there than Raleigh is.
My dad would occasionally recall a story about a bad snow storm that hit us when we were living in Craven County that dumped about a ton of snow back in the early 70's, when I was still a wee one. It's really hard to imagine it happening, but history has proven that it does. I think sometimes too much is made about how wacky modern weather is - crazy weather events happen all the time, it hasn't just been in the past few years!
Umm no, from living in NC all my life...the snow in Boone comes from the great lakes...lol. (just after artic fronts) It does not break up totally after 50 miles. Once the moisture hits our mnts...it causes a rising motion...and more precip develops.
Once the moisture passes Boone, the opposite happens. There is a sinking motion, which dries out the precip. Thats why it never reaches Winston-Salem.
Boone just had the lake effect snows last week, when the last artic front moved through. Either that or Greg Fishel, our chief meteoroligist here in Raleigh lies.
Boone only recieves a few inches at a time from the lake effect events. You would be surprised my friend. If it is happening there, it's happening in Boone.
About the ocean effect snow...it rarely ever happens.....and never....ever in Craven Co. Only at the Outer Banks. It only happens with extreme artic blasts. In fact, I only know of maybe 4 times in my life(since 76) that it has happend. I lived in Craven Co. from 86 through 01....we never even came close to having ocean effect snow. But we did get some big snowstorms though. (noreasters) When the ocean effect snow was happening at the outerbanks, Hatteras would be reporting Hvy snow. New Bern would have deep carolina blue skies.
If New Bern did get ocean effect snow.......wow, that would have been a sight.
Don't mean to be a smarty, but the weather is my thing. I am a weather geek.
Umm no, from living in NC all my life...the snow in Boone comes from the great lakes...lol. (just after artic fronts) It does not break up totally after 50 miles. Once the moisture hits our mnts...it causes a rising motion...and more precip develops.
Once the moisture passes Boone, the opposite happens. There is a sinking motion, which dries out the precip. Thats why it never reaches Winston-Salem.
Boone just had the lake effect snows last week, when the last artic front moved through. Either that or Greg Fishel, our chief meteoroligist here in Raleigh lies.
Boone only recieves a few inches at a time from the lake effect events. You would be surprised my friend. If it is happening there, it's happening in Boone.
About the ocean effect snow...it rarely ever happens.....and never....ever in Craven Co. Only at the Outer Banks. It only happens with extreme artic blasts. In fact, I only know of maybe 4 times in my life(since 76) that it has happend. I lived in Craven Co. from 86 through 01....we never even came close to having ocean effect snow. But we did get some big snowstorms though. (noreasters) When the ocean effect snow was happening at the outerbanks, Hatteras would be reporting Hvy snow. New Bern would have deep carolina blue skies.
If New Bern did get ocean effect snow.......wow, that would have been a sight.
Don't mean to be a smarty, but the weather is my thing. I am a weather geek.
Sorry, but I have to agree with magicmk. Lake effect snow only occurs within 50 miles of a large body of water. I used to live in central Michigan (Houghton Lake) just outside the 'snow belt'. Traverse City would routinely get 12-24" of snow, while we would only get a trace. No one ever claimed that the snow that we did see was 'lake effect', and we were much closer to the lakes than Boone!
Lake effect snow occurs when the warm moist lower layer of air over a large body of open water gets pushed over a cold landmass, causing the warm moist air to cool and subsequently produce large amounts of snow. Within 50 miles of the coast, that warm moist air has reached the ambient temperature of the rest of the atmosphere, stops cooling, and the snow stops.
As you pointed out, the snow in Boone primarily occurs because of the uplift produced by the mountains. But that's just considered plain-old-run-of-the-mill snow. Elsewhere, inland snow that's often wrongly identified as 'lake effect' is really just caused by instability in the atmosphere from solar heating of a landmass in a cold airmass immediately after a cold front. Just because some of the moisture that produces this snow comes from the Great Lakes, this doesn't make it 'lake effect' snow. The mechanism of how the snow is produced, and not the moisture source, is what classifies it as 'lake effect' now.
I think I need to have a talk with Greg Fishel and straighten him out
Winter-type precipitation usually occurs with southerly through easterly winds, and is seldom associated with very cold weather. Snow and sleet occur on an average once or twice a year near the coast, and not much more often over the southeastern half of the State. Such occurrences are nearly always connected with northeasterly winds, generated when a high pressure system over the interior, or northeastern United States, causes a southward flow of cold dry air down the coastline, while offshore a low pressure system brings in warmer, moist air from the North Atlantic. Farther inland, over the Mountains and western Piedmont, frozen precipitation sometimes occurs in connection with low pressure storms, and in the extreme west with cold front passages from the northwest. Average winter snowfall over the State ranges from about inch per year on the outer banks and along the lower coast to about 10 inches in the northern Piedmont and 16 inches in the southern Mountains. Some of the higher mountain peaks and upper slopes receive an average of nearly 50 inches a year.
GREATEST 24-HOUR SNOWFALL in NC
36 inches Mount Mitchell, Yancey County March 13, 1993
GREATEST SINGLE STORM SNOWFALL in NC
60 inches Newfound Gap, Swain County, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (unofficial) April 2-6, 1987
50 inches Mount Mitchell, Yancey County March 12-14, 1993
Parts of Western NC average more snow per year than Detroit.... it's just that almost all of it falls in late december-march. Give it another few weeks.
Are there years where snowfall is non-existent and others where its heavy?
Or is it more like you just don't see snow this time of year ever... If so, what months would you say are more of less consistent with snowfall over there?
The Boone/Blowing Rock area is the place to go for snow/skiing in NC. A word of advice, ignore the ramblings of ncsu99, as it seems that he's wandered far off the path in a tangent that's of no consequence to your original question (i.e - the huge freak snowfall in the Triangle one winter, etc.).
Not trying to be harsh, but really...
Boone is about 3 hours northwest of Raleigh, two hours north of Charlotte, and will provide you with a lot of snow for skiing. The resorts there manufacture snow to supplement the 4-6" monthly they get in Jan-Feb. Their snowfall is the result of their elevation (approx 3000'), and the fact that the weather fronts moving through tend to slide over their region, as opposed to the Asheville area.
Sure, the snow varies from year to year, but living in Boone, you WILL see some heavy (6"+) snows every winter, and you WILL see some severely cold weather (single digits temps) at some point each winter. To be sure, it's not like Syracuse or Buffalo, NY, but it does provide some serious snow, to be in the South.
Keep in mind though, that the temps during the summer months are incredibly nice. The kind of weather where you need long sleeves & jeans at 7 a.m. (55*), short sleeves & shorts at 2 p.m. (75*), and the long sleeves & jeans again at 9 p.m (55*). This in July. Forget about humidity.
The air is crisp & clear. The winters can be cold, if you're outside, but they aren't forbiddingly such. If you get up on the mountaintops, you're going to see a lot of high winds, but otherwise, it is very bearable.
Boone is a great place to live. Very eclectic, and very friendly & accepting of virtually anyone...
We are going to Durham for a wedding and would like to go into the mountains. How far is the closest"mountain" area? Thanks.
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Needless to say, I could not wait to get back home that day! 
Sorry...I have to agree with magicmk
