An upper-level low tracked alongside the eastern seaboard Sunday afternoon, dropping nearly a foot of snow in some parts of Ashe County and downing power lines in various locations.

After a few isolated morning flurries, widespread snow showers overwhelmed much of the High Country on Sunday shortly around 1 p.m. Heavy bands of wet snow continued through much of the evening hours and finally began to dissipate in the early morning hours of Monday. Anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of snow was reported throughout the county. Sunday’s evening blitz may have come as a surprise to many locals. Originally, forecasters were only expecting an inch or so for most areas but meteorologists began to increase anticipated totals as the storm began to show its true colors. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the area which did not expire until 11 a.m. on Monday.

High winds combined with temperatures hovering in the low teens made travel perilous as authorities urged motorists to refrain from driving if at all possible. The North Carolina Highway Patrol reported that the majority of roads in Ashe County were snow or ice covered as of Monday morning. Heavy snow caused many power lines to sag as some lines were pushed to the breaking point. Line technicians from Blue Ridge Electric worked through much of the night repairing damaged lines.

According to BRE Director of Public Relations Renee Whitener, the majority of the day’s outages had occurred in Ashe. As of 5:30 a.m., all but 80 customers had power restored in the area with the majority of the outages being reported in the Deep Gap community.