Snow blankets Carter County, continues on Monday

Published 2:32 pm Monday, January 17, 2022

Residents of Carter County were greeted with a blanket of white, fluffy snow during the afternoon hours of Sunday, with the region receiving two to three inches of snowfall for most of the day and throughout the night, as reported by the National Weather Service.

In addition to the snow, freezing temperatures caused many county roads to become slick with ice, making traveling along the roadways dangerous going into Monday morning.

However, Roger Colbaugh, Superintendent of the Carter County Highway Department said that his crew has been hard at work over the past 24 hours. “We got out there and cleaned up all the roads that we could yesterday before the weather started getting too bad. But around three or four o’clock this morning, I saw that there was still much work to be done due to overnight snowfall.”

“Right now, except for up in Roan Mountain, we have gotten most of the snow off of the roads,” Colbaugh said. “Up there, the roads are still a little bit frozen because of how cold it is.”

Colbaugh said that the Highway Department had an early start Monday morning, beginning work around 6 a.m.

“I would say that two-thirds of all roads have been cleared off as of noon, with there still needing to be some work done on a few in the higher elevations of the county, especially the backroads up there,” Colbaugh said. “We are still working and we will stay with it as long as we can. I am assuming we will be back at it again in the morning, as the roads will probably freeze again overnight and they are calling for more snow.

The National Weather Service in Morristown expects more snow to fall throughout the county on Monday, issuing a statement that reads, “An upper level trough passing over the area will bring additional scattered to numerous snow showers today, mainly north of I-40. Light accumulations are possible, with heavier amounts in the mountains where snow may continue into tonight.”

AccuWeather, another weather forecasting service, extended their Winter Weather Advisory until four o’clock Monday afternoon, stating that there could be, “Additional snow accumulations of less than one inch.”

The high temperature for the area today, as reported by AccuWeather, is 29 degrees with a RealFeel high of 18 degrees. Temperatures on Monday could drop to as low as 22 degrees throughout the day.

If travel is necessary, the latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 511.