News

Henderson County braces for ice storm

By Bill Moss, Published: November 24, 2013

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning for Henderson County and urged travelers to stay off the roads later tonight and early Tuesday.

Henderson County is the most affected county in forecasts by the National Weather Service, and Henderson County emergency management director Rocky Hyder issued an advisory Monday saying the storm patterns poses the biggest threat in southern Henderson County.
Moisture from the gulf will move into cold and dry air and cause freezing rain late tonight and early Tuesday., the weather service said. Because surfaces are already cold, the ice is likely to stick to roads, trees and powerlines, potentially causing widespread power outages, especially in southern Henderson County.
"Significant amounts of ice accumulations will make travel dangerous or impossible," the weather service said. "Travel is strongly discouraged. Commerce will likely be severely impacted. "Ice accumulations and winds will likely lead to snapped power lines and falling tree branches that add to the danger."
"It looks like freezing rain will be spreading overnight Monday in your area to early Tuesday," National Weather Service meteorologist Harry Gerapetritis said Sunday. "Overnight lows are probably going to be locked in in the upper 20s and later they're only going to slowly warm. We don't have you getting above freezing until 9 or 10 . Pretty much anything that falls will probably be mainly freezing rain."

The weather service issued a winter storm watch for Henderson County. It said an ice coating of a tenth to three-tenths of an inch was possible with freezing rain turning to rain about 7 a.m. Tuesday. The chance of precipitation was 100 percent Tuesday and Tuesday night.
The weather picture for Thanksgiving week travel in the mountains does not improve much after Tuesday.
A weather system heading our way from the Gulf Mexico will dump a lot of rain after the Tuesday morning blast.
"Even when icing quits and it starts to warm up — and it's not much of a warmup — then we should see a period of heavy rain and we could see 2 to 3 inches of rain in your area into early Wednesday," the Greer, S.C.-based forecaster said.
The rain Wednesday could mix with cold air and turn into sleet or snow.
"That whole Tuesday to Wednesday period is going to be a very active time and probably will affect driving throughout mountain," Gerapetritis said. "Right now things are looking a lot drier for Thanksgiving Day." It will still be cold, with a high of about 40.
A warmup does not arrive until Friday and Saturday. Those days should be sunny with highs in the mid 40s.