ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A thin glaze of ice coated windshields across the Asheville area Monday morning, a quiet preview of a more impactful round of winter weather expected to arrive overnight.
The National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg has issued an expanded Winter Weather Advisory for much of the northern and eastern Blue Ridge, warning that freezing rain could turn roads slick from 7 p.m. Monday through 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the advisory covered Avery, Yancey and Mitchell counties, along with higher elevations in Burke, Caldwell and McDowell counties. By early afternoon, meteorologists widened the alert to include parts of Buncombe, Henderson, Polk and Rutherford counties as confidence in additional icing increased.
Forecasters now expect ice accumulations of up to one-tenth to two-tenths of an inch across the region, with the heaviest glazing likely along mid-elevation slopes and the eastern sections of Buncombe and Henderson counties — roughly from Swannanoa and Fairview to Edneyville and the Blue Ridge Escarpment. No ice accumulation is expected in Asheville or Hendersonville at this time.
The Weather Service warned that the icing could create hazardous travel conditions overnight and during the Tuesday morning commute, especially on bridges, overpasses and untreated secondary roads. Power outages are possible where the glazing is heaviest.
Monday morning’s light freezing rain and patches of rime ice offered an early taste of the incoming system, with observers reporting thin but widespread accumulations across the central and northern mountains.
Forecasters expect a brief lull with dry, chilly conditions during the day, followed by another wave of precipitation building overnight. Most of Western North Carolina will see cold rain, but temperatures near the northern and eastern Blue Ridge are likely to hover at or below freezing long enough for icing to develop.
As the system moves out Tuesday afternoon, colder northwest winds could shift precipitation to snow or rime ice along the Tennessee border. Any lingering flakes are expected to taper off around sunset.
Temperatures will plunge Tuesday night, dropping into the upper teens and lower 20s across the mountains. Another round of unsettled, unseasonably cold weather is possible Friday, when freezing rain may again develop before transitioning to rain.
