Cold front, possible snow in Asheville to coincide with daylight saving time this weekend

Andrew Jones, Asheville Citizen Times
·1 min read
A National Weather Service forecast map shows predicted temperatures for March 13 including lows that will rival the historical record.
A National Weather Service forecast map shows predicted temperatures for March 13 including lows that will rival the historical record.

ASHEVILLE - Low temperatures will strike Asheville and surrounding areas soon after daylight saving time begins March 13, rivaling record lows, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Jeffrey Taylor with the NWS Greenville-Spartanburg Office said lows March 13 — one week before spring arrives — in Asheville could drop to 16 or 17.

Lows on March 12 morning could reach about 30.

Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. March 13, when clocks should be set ahead one hour.

Taylor said the record lows for both March 12 and 13 was 14 degrees, set in 1998.

Data on Asheville shows the average temperature on those for days is about 47.

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The cold could bring very light snow to Buncombe. It's part of a larger front coming from the Western U.S.

"It's a large-scale, upper level pattern change," Taylor said, noting a steep upper trough will come down from the Dakotas and the Great Lakes. "It's pretty significant for March, pretty amplified. It's going to cover most of the the Eastern U.S. later on Saturday and then retreat ... on Sunday and Monday."

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Temperatures will remain warm for most of the week leading up to March 12. Temperatures climbed above 70 on March 5 and 6, then hovered around 60 through March 8.

Highs on Friday will be in the low 60s, Taylor said.

Surrounding areas will see similar lows, according to NWS maps. South of Buncombe on March 13, lows are predicted in the mid-20s; In the mountains, they could drop to 14.

Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Low Asheville temperatures coincide with daylight savings on March 13