Winter Weather — Watauga, North Carolina

2025-01-05 to 2025-01-06 · Watauga, North Carolina

Event narrative

Up to an inch of snow fell across the county from January 5th through January 6th. Between 0.10 and 0.15 inches of ice accumulated as well. Key Impacts: traffic accidents.

Wider weather episode

A major winter storm brought numerous impacts to North Carolina Sunday January 5th and into Monday January 6th. A strong surface low pressure system moved northeastward from the Central Plains and into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, with the associated warm front lifting northward from the southeast into the lower Mid Atlantic. Precipitation began as snow, but strong warm air advection ahead of the low pressure center, and behind the warm front, led to a transition to all liquid precipitation. Surface temperatures remained below freezing, and so a prolonged period of freezing rain led to ice accumulations up to a quarter of an inch overnight and during the Monday morning commute. Hundreds had lost power by the morning of January 6th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1230994. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.