Here We Go AGAIN . . .

I want anyone/everyone that might come across this blog to note that I am NOT a weather expert, a weather forecaster or a weather professional in any way!  It is a HOBBY of mine and I'm SURE I'm wrong more often than I am right!  This is an entertainment blog ONLY!

Also, I try to catch my spelling errors before I post, if I miss spell my apologies.

It's Thursday morning, just before 0600.  Have been awakened with my Blackberry going off sending me DIRE weather alerts on this next winter storm.  Doesn't look good for anyone in its path, but especially us in western North Carolina.  

This time around it "appears" we are in for an ice storm event vs the last series of winter storms that were mostly snow events.

Ice accumuilation is being forecasted to be significant enough that it might very well cause power outages.

We experienced an ice storm in past years here in Mills River, NC, and although it was pretty, it was disasterous.  Power outages were caused by many things including hundreds of trees that fell into them.  

I know this as I was out in it cutting tress out of the roads as a member of the local Mills River Fire Rescue department.  http://www.mrfd.org/ 

We had 1 death on Hwy 280 (Boylston Hwy) at the bridge just before south mills river rd.

This next storm will near us after midnight tonight and begin as a wintry mix, followed by snow and then back to a wintry mix followed by an ice event.  The time table is a mere guess at the moment.

 Let's HOPE that I'm WRONG about this and it misses us completely!  Our ground is saturated and any moisture that we get is going to cause (1) run off (2) Flooding (3) MORE land/rock slides.

The flooding is a huge concern for Mills River, NC and all of Henderson & Buncombe counties.  I was on the road running service calls in Asheville Wednesday and drove past the French Broad River several times.  The river is way up to near the top of the banks, and it will not take much more water before significant flooding takes place!

Weaverville, NC experienced a major rock slide Wednesday afternoon, and it was only LUCK that a car or school bus wasn't trapped under the mess!  http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100204/NEWS01/302040024

January 29th Snow Storm

Mills River, NC is located south west of Asheville, NC in Hendserson county.  My location is
LAT N35 24 12.2 LON W82 33 52.2

At 1430 hrs snow began abruptly here. It didn't start slow either.  Nor did it let up for hours either. This was a wet snowfall, causing trees to lean with the weight, bring down tree branches and in some cases the whole tree.

The snow was falling at nearly an inch or more per hour.  Early around 0600, the snow turned to freezing rain.

By the time all was said and done, I had 14.5 inches on the ground.  Good thing I have a 4X4 Dodge Ram pickup!