From the Institute for Climate Education at A-B Tech: A small, fast-moving and dynamic system brought snowfall to many places in the region Wednesday night, March 20. And, of course, it happened on the first day of spring!
The system moved into the region just before sunset, and the evening sky was filled with dramatic clouds that were producing lots of snow. But the air was so dry early in the evening that most of the white stuff evaporated before it made it to the ground. In the center of the image below, you can see the snow showers falling as a fuzzy veil from the cloud base. I shot the image from downtown Asheville around 7 p.m.
By later in the evening, snow was falling over many areas of Western North Carolina and honestly, it was one of the most impressive heavy snowfalls we’ve seen in the higher elevations with heavy snow falling as big flakes, but the system moved out quickly producing one to 4 inches across most of the higher elevations and less than an inch in the valley.
The result can be seen in the image below from the MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor aboard NASA’s Terra satellite as it passed overhead around noon on Thursday, March 21.
Image: Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison with annotation by Pamela McCown
The coming weekend will continue to feel more like winter than spring. Another system will impact the area late Friday, with the chance for a mixture of rain and frozen precipitation for most of us, and more snow in the higher elevations. Then, yet another larger system will bring more cold and wet weather on Sunday lasting into early next week, with, yep, more snow in the mountains.
Event Notice: Do you want to learn more about severe weather? What causes it? How it forms? What you can do to protect yourself, your family, your co-workers? And, how to report it to the National Weather Service. Join us for a free severe weather workshop on Saturday, April 13, at A-B Tech. The event is open to anyone who wants to attend, but pre-registration is required. You’ll find more information and super simple registration here.
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