2025-2026 Fall/Winter Mountain Thread

[NorthHillsWx]

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

[Met1985]

5 minutes ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

Not really familiar about that area but that should be a great spot for this upcoming event.

[Met1985]

This is looking more and more like a classic setup flow event.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Met1985]

12k NAM has a significant uptick on the flow snow.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[BooneWX]

2 hours ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

From living in that area for a while: Banner Elk will be ground zero 

 

Sneaky good spots for these setups:

- Blowing Rock 

- Aho area of Watauga County near the parkway

- Zionville (Watauga)

- Sugar Grove (Watauga)

- Meat Camp (Watauga, near Elk Knob State Park)

- Newland 

- crossnore

- Minneapolis 

- Creston (Ashe Co)

 

Avoid:

- Deep Gap

- West Jefferson 

-Jonas Ridge 

- Sugar (near ground zero but if you’re going to deal with the crowds, might as well go all in with Beech)

[Met1985]

12z gfs coming in a bit better but as we've seen the models have underestimated flow snow most of the season.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[eyewall]

2 hours ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

Banner Elk is usually a sure bet.

[NorthHillsWx]

4 minutes ago, BooneWX said:

From living in that area for a while: Banner Elk will be ground zero 

 

Sneaky good spots for these setups:

- Blowing Rock 

- Aho area of Watauga County near the parkway

- Zionville (Watauga)

- Sugar Grove (Watauga)

- Meat Camp (Watauga, near Elk Knob State Park)

- Newland 

- crossnore

- Minneapolis 

- Creston (Ashe Co)

 

Avoid:

- Deep Gap

- West Jefferson 

-Jonas Ridge 

- Sugar (near ground zero but if you’re going to deal with the crowds, might as well go all in with Beech)

 

1 minute ago, eyewall said:

Banner Elk is usually a sure bet.

Think we’re going with banner elk for the town and availability of places to stay. Never been either, looking forward to it. 

[Met1985]

4 minutes ago, NorthHillsWx said:

 

Think we’re going with banner elk for the town and availability of places to stay. Never been either, looking forward to it. 

Should be a great setup for flow snow.

[Buckethead]

The Cane River is frozen pretty solid up here near the state line.

Sent from my Pixel 10 Pro using Tapatalk

[acc fan]

Winter weather advisories for Ashe and Watauga counties. 1 to 6 inches 

[Met1985]

Ashe-Watauga-Tazewell-Smyth-Bland-Giles-Grayson-Craig-Alleghany

VA-Bath-Mercer-Summers-Monroe-Eastern Greenbrier-

Including the cities of Clifton Forge, Bland, Independence,

Union, Troutdale, Bluefield, Boone, Whitetop, Pearisburg, Hinton,

Hot Springs, West Jefferson, Hix, Lewisburg, Marion, Covington,

New Castle, Alderson, Tazewell, White Sulphur Springs, Flat Top,

and Volney

1240 PM EST Thu Feb 5 2026

 

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM FRIDAY TO 7 AM EST

SATURDAY...

 

* WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 1 and 6

  inches. Winds gusting as high as 60 mph.

 

* WHERE...Portions of northwest North Carolina, southwest and west

  central Virginia, and southeast West Virginia.

 

* WHEN...From 1 PM Friday to 7 AM EST Saturda

[Met1985]

Ashe-Alleghany NC-Surry-Watauga-Wilkes-Smyth-Bland-Giles-Wythe-

Pulaski-Montgomery-Grayson-Carroll-Floyd-Craig-Alleghany VA-Bath-

Roanoke-Botetourt-Rockbridge-Patrick-Franklin-Bedford-Amherst-

Including the cities of Blacksburg, Rocky Mount, Wilkesboro,

Clifton Forge, Fincastle, Bland, Independence, Troutdale, Floyd,

Sparta, Buena Vista, Boone, Whitetop, Pearisburg, Amherst, Hot

Springs, Lexington, Salem, West Jefferson, Roanoke, Galax,

Marion, Dobson, Wytheville, Covington, Radford, Pulaski, New

Castle, Bedford, Volney, and Stuart

1241 PM EST Thu Feb 5 2026

 

...HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY

EVENING...

 

* WHAT...Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph

  possible.

 

* WHERE...Portions of northwest North Carolina and southwest

  Virginia.

 

* WHEN...From Friday evening through Saturday 

[Met1985]

Blacksburg and East TN have put out advisorys for up north and the border counties over in east TN. Hopefully GSP will also.

[Maggie Valley Steve]

WWA issued for Yancey, Madison and Mitchell Counties above 3500ft.

[Met1985]

Mid to north mountain special 

 

 

Madison-Yancey-Mitchell-

Including the cities of Faust

102 PM EST Thu Feb 5 2026

 

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM FRIDAY TO 7 AM EST

SATURDAY ABOVE 3500 FEET...

 

* WHAT...Snow expected above 3500 feet. Total snow accumulations

  between 1 and 3 inches with some locations up to 6 inches along

  the Tennessee border. Winds gusting as high as 65 mph.

 

* WHERE...Madison, Mitchell, and Yancey Counties.

 

* WHEN...From 1 PM Friday to 7 AM EST Saturday.

 

[Phelps]

3 hours ago, NorthHillsWx said:

 

Think we’re going with banner elk for the town and availability of places to stay. Never been either, looking forward to it. 

Banner Elk is 3700'.  It's a perfectly fine spot for snow but in some setups the difference between there and 4500+ is still pretty noticeable. I love Beech but I hunker down on the weekends.  The ski traffic can be just brutal though it does ebb and flow throughout the day.  Banner Elk is better for getting out and about, especially if you are close enough to walk.  Enjoy!    

[Met1985]

Looks great.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Tyler Penland]

I've said this a few times this year and I've yet to see any, but once again the 3km NAM looks convective with that initial band tomorrow. At some point one of us has to get lucky with some T-snow. 

Otherwise this looks spectacular. Outside chance I actually get more from this than I did last weekend. We only ended with 5" last weekend, and NAM supports 6-8" at the house. Flow direction is pretty good for me. Banner Elk should definitely be a hotspot this time.

[acc fan]

17 minutes ago, Tyler Penland said:

I've said this a few times this year and I've yet to see any, but once again the 3km NAM looks convective with that initial band tomorrow. At some point one of us has to get lucky with some T-snow. 

Otherwise this looks spectacular. Outside chance I actually get more from this than I did last weekend. We only ended with 5" last weekend, and NAM supports 6-8" at the house. Flow direction is pretty good for me. Banner Elk should definitely be a hotspot this time.

Tyler, is this a good setup for Boone?

[Tyler Penland]

20 minutes ago, acc fan said:

Tyler, is this a good setup for Boone?

Yeah, especially the CCTI side of town. The bypass area always scores during these type systems. Can see some wide variance from the bypass towards Deep Gap but the NAM has pretty deep moisture for a while tomorrow afternoon/night. 

 

[acc fan]

4 minutes ago, Tyler Penland said:

Yeah, especially the CCTI side of town. The bypass area always scores during these type systems. Can see some wide variance from the bypass towards Deep Gap but the NAM has pretty deep moisture for a while tomorrow afternoon/night. 

 

Thank you