WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. -- The mountains in Watauga County are expected to see several inches of snowfall overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
Crews with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) in Watauga County are on standby to clear the roads if needed, said Kevin Whittington, county maintenance engineer.
Fourteen people will be coming in at 10 p.m. Tuesday to monitor the road conditions and a day-shift crew will start at 6 a.m. the following morning.
Whittington said crews did not pretreat the roads in the county because rain is forecasted ahead of the snowfall, and the rain would wash away any pretreatment. Crews will salt and plow the roads as needed if there is accumulation.
“Always on standby this time of year, starting in November all the way through April, first of April,” Whittington said.
If roads do need to be plowed, Whittington said, crews will start on the primary roads, move to secondary paved roads and then work on unpaved roads.
“We will add salt to the roads as conditions call for, and then if we get snowing real hard as they say that it can, we’ll have to plow the roads,” he added.
The snow can create hazardous conditions on the roads in Watauga County but up on the ski slopes in the mountains, spring breakers in town are welcoming the fresh powder.
“This is our first time skiing and we’re having a fantastic day,” said Gila Goldstein, who is on vacation with her family from South Florida.
There is a 40 to 60 inch base of machine-made snow on Appalachian Ski Mountain, but NBC Charlotte’s meteorologists are forecasting it will receive anywhere from three to six inches of real snow.
“There’s no inspiration like natural snow, and so we’re excited about having one more shot at winter here before the end of the season," said Brad Moretz, president of Appalachian Ski Mountain.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is preparing to close off the slopes for the season and the last little bit of winter is making sure visitors in town have an extra special time.
“I’m really excited about it,” said Sara Goldstein, visiting from South Florida, “cause we’ve never actually seen snow falling.”