From the Institute for Climate Education at A-B Tech: Did you know that each full moon has a name? Most of us have heard of the Harvest Moon, the full moon that occurs in October. In North America, the full moon in February is known as the Snow Moon (or the Storm Moon*).
That could be an important bit of news as we head into the next couple of days. Remember the saying about March: In like a lion … Out like a lamb?
February’s full moon occurred on Monday, Feb. 25, and it made a beautiful entrance over the eastern horizon as you can see in the animation below. (If the image below is not animating for you, click here.)
The Snow Moon has been true to its name in the higher elevations where the snow began on Feb. 27 (Wednesday evening), producing winter wonderland-type scenes, like the one below from Thursday morning (2/28). But, you should know that the large-scale weather pattern over the United States has made a significant shift this week, and it looks like we may be in for a dose of winter for the foreseeable future.
This means that we will see colder air in place for the next week or so with temperatures below normal for most of the time period and several storms passing through — each providing the chance for snow.
Asheville and surrounding communities could see snow flurries on and off through Sunday, but it does not look like the lower elevations will see much accumulation over the weekend out if this system. However, this weekend will bring the chance for significant snow along the North Carolina/Tennessee border, where persistent snow showers will result in close to a foot of snow accumulating by Sunday night in the highest elevations.
This weekend’s snow will be quickly followed by another storm that has the chance to bring accumulating snow to most locations in Western North Carolina beginning Monday night or Tuesday.
As always, this is an evolving situation so make sure that you stay especially weather aware.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon
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