now we're seeing a chance of winter weather. >> frank: chief meteorologist jason boyer. >> jason: leicester carpet sales news13 sky cam network. we're at balsam gap. rain on the roads now. and i really don't expect that snow to lay on the roads much here. but it will likely on the ground first grassy surfaces and rooftops. notice blues showing up here. this is bona fide snow fall here on the balsams and higher elevations. south and west of highway 64 and 19e and 474 as well. rain showers asheville and farther to the west of those areas. snow over the high country. snow over the smokys and snow over the nantahalas already in southern macon county. elsewhere it is still rain fall.

gusts up to 50 miles per hour in many cases. we still have the wind to deal with through the evening. high winds mostly west and south of asheville. then we get in to the winter weather advisories and they last until 7:00 a.m. friday for much of western north carolina. that means snow will fly off and on through then in the high country. temperatures in the 40s at 7. 30s by 11 with a chance of flakes mixing in. i'll show you changes. how much snow i expect in just a bit. >> frank: news 13's karen wynne joins us live in henderson county where strong storms caused some serious damage. >> tammy: karen, earlier today, thousands of homes were without power. >> karen: right, tammy. here in henderson county, there were about 4,000 homes without power. right now that number is right around 1300.

down trees and power lines. >> a candler family had a most unwelcomed guest, a tree fell on their home this morning. meanwhile, in haywood county, mike smathers lost power around 9:30 a.m. >> and then the boom. actually two booms. >> karen: smathers saw a tree take down a power line right in front of his eyes. up. it looked like it was going to go to the neighbor's house. >> karen: it happened in canton. smathers says first responders came quickly. meanwhile in hendersonville, we

this neighborhood on haywood road was without power for several hours. resident virginia fisher says she slept through most of the storm and was happy to have her power restored shortly. >> now i can have my coffee. >> karen: and coffee is going to be a really good thing to have on hand tonight with temperatures expected to plunge as we go from the spring-like storms we had today to winter conditions. i'm karen wynne, news 13. >> tammy: for the latest updates on our severe weather, download our free weather app. you can stay on top of warnings, advisories and alerts. search wlos in your app store. new information in the investigation in to the polk county sheriff's office evidence room. district attorney greg newman tells the carolina public press that an audit of the evidence holdings has been completed. newman says he will have a

which is expected next week. sergeant chris buyers was fired. he had a substance abuse problem and admitted to violating procedures. a local community college is vowing to prepare workers for hundreds of new jobs. >> frank: 350 new jobs. today blue ridge community college officials . >> tammy: kim, what do you have to say about that? >> kim: hey, tammy. yeah, the new plant is the gf linamar plant. it will be opening near the end of 2017 near the asheville airport. this is significant because the blue ridge community college will take a significant role in to help train and recruit

meet 30-year-old andy carter supervising. carter is learning to program machines to very precisely cut parts. >> it's very mentally engaging as well as physically engaging. >> kim: carter and the other students are training now. it is the kind of project they'll oversee. >> any potential employee, this is where they would come. >> karen: bagley and the other leaders at the college will play a key role training staff at the new plant. >> the technology has grown. we've had people in there learning it as they've grown but they're of retirement age. >> the community college is thrilled for the opportunity to work with a company such as gf linamar.

training and recruiting program with the company all through the months of april. and by march, we should have more details. >> karen: plans for classes are on the fast track. the plant scheduled to be up next summer. >> anyone interested in working for gf linamar, they can contact us here on campus. skilled workforce is critical and i think they're looking to us to help them ramp up. >> kim: now the school will start recruiting training starting next spring. we're told by officials that the average salary for jobs will be between 35 and $45,000. those are significant salaries and we will watch as this develops and the curriculum is formed here. kimberly king, news 13. >> tammy: buncombe county is sweetening the deal for school

today the district raised the starting salary from $12 an hour to about $14 an hour for most full-time drivers. they also announced a signing bonus for any new drivers signing on. >> it is a good job that with a decent salary. and for most employees, it can also carry benefits, health insurance and membership in the state retirement system. it's one of the most important jobs. it's how our kids arrive to school each day. >> tammy: buncombe county has been searching for bus drivers since the school year started. it's consistently had between 3 and 10 positions opened. >> frank: you know, i'm free in the mornings. i could do that. >> tammy: yeah, absolutely. >> frank: windy conditions are making it difficult for some drivers right now. >> tammy: . >> jaclyn: two roads in the area

crab creek road is closed near morgan road. a portion of cascade lake road is also shut down in that area. high water is also an issue we're dealing with there. wilson road and island ford road those usual problem spots are closed because of flooding. most of the traffic lights within the rutherfordton city limits are out right now. that's a look at your on time traffic report brought to you by debruhl's used car superstore. >> frank: if you see a dog with a yellow ribbon, well, beware. the asheville humane society and buncombe county animal shelter have launched project yellow. it's to draw attention to dogs that need some extra space. >> they could have a medical condition. they could be deaf and just need to be approached a certain way. so you just never know. so we just wanted to get that

>> frank: you can pick up a yellow ribbon at the adoption center in asheville. coming up, an upstate animal park pleads for help from the community. how much money hollywild says it needs to remain open. >> tammy: you know, sometimes facebook's "like" button just

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>> frank: stocks close higher today. the dow was up 53 points finishing out at 16,484. nasdaq picked up 39 and closed at 4442. >> tammy: an upstate zoo is . >> frank: attendance at hollywild fell after an electrical fire killed 27 animals last year. keeping up on infrastructure and animal care has become difficult without funding. they're setting a fundraising goal of $500,000 this year.

december to make our operation costs run smoothly. >> frank: find out how you can help save hollywild from closing. >> tammy: the suit alleges that a customer died of ovarian cancer caused by the company's products. plaintiffs in the case argued that johnson & johnson was aware of and neglected the dangers of its product. >> frank: facebook is going beyond the like button. the social media giant announced today that it's expanding user's ability to react to something on their newsfeed. the site used to only have a thumbs up button if you wanted to say something or liked it or something like that. now if you hover the mouse arrow over the like button, you can choose from other options. facebook says it tested the

year and received good reviews. the new options are already available. news 13 wants to know will you use facebook's new reaction buttons? you can log on to facebook.com/news 13 to answer our question of the day. you really share how you really feel, tammy. >> tammy: yes, just with that little emoji. >> frank: it speaks volumes, jason. >> jason: it does. this weather certainly turned on us and will continue to go down hill. if you like snow, that's your thing then. 45 on the low this morning. a very spring-like day. picked up over an inch of rain in asheville. most of that coming in the morning. the wind continues. the snow fall will add up. i'll show you who gets most of it.

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now your news 13 skywatch weather. >> jason: we have already experienced a lot of changes and more to come this evening and overnight. here's our impact forecast through friday morning. the wind is still going to remain a moderately high threat for us. wind gusts at 30, even 40 miles per hour. even though high wind warnings expire at 7 o'clock. the chill, the cold won't be as big of a factor but you're really going to notice the change. we've already had our heaviest rain fall. here the blues are showing up now over the balsam mountains, haywood, jackson county. the darker the blue, the heavier the snow. not all of this is coming down as snow. some of it is rain and then

snow showers here over southwestern jackson county and macon county. highlands and along 64, it's going to get dicey. a few more in to tennessee. it's mostly snow now in the smokys. here's our leicester carpet sales news13 sky cam network look at the clouds lowering here in franklin. nantahalas, we're going to get some snow here shortly. asheville, 49 degrees. wind chill down to 43. you're going to notice that wind as these temperatures cool off. more of an impact from that wind. center of low pressure away from us. northwest flow that will continue to wring out these snow showers in earnest through early tomorrow, even in to friday. some of the higher elevations won't see it completely.

will be out until then. the future cast indicating the snow starting to pick up and spread out along the tennessee valley. down in to northeast buncombe. valley locations, yancey, mitchell, avery county, haywood and swain county. the high elevations will continue to see the significant accumulation. strong northwest winds all the way in to friday morning. then the sun's back and will weaken those winds more noticeably in to friday afternoon. here are the estimated snowfall amounts. again, in the blue here, you can see 2.6. a little more than two and a half in gatlinburg. almost to an inch in marshall. an inch and a half in burnsville. 30s for lows tonight. yes, it will be around freezing in asheville. 20s over the high country north. our temperatures tomorrow only getting in the 30s for many

the valleys may see low 40s. temperatures will remain cold. chilly through friday. then we get warm. look at the 60s coming back sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday. very nice by then. >> tammy: time to check out today's "see it, shoot it, send it" picture. jerry brendel sent us this shot of a rainbow appearing as the sun broke out through the clouds in enka. >> frank: send us your pictures and video, just log on to wlos.com or e-mail them to pics@wlos.com. local heroes faced off to help save lives today. >> tammy: they participated in the battle of the badges blood drive. teams included the asheville fire department, asheville police, buncombe county ems, buncombe county sheriff's office and nc highway patrol. donors voted for their favorite team before they donated. >> over the past two months, we

so today's drive is really important to help meet that need. >> tammy: american red cross says it will announced the winner next week. >> frank: coming up, thin and

>> tammy: waffles and maple syrup just may be one of your favorite comfort foods. >> frank: jennifer emert joins us with information on how to make the perfect waffle. >> reporter: consumer reports set out to find which waffle maker makes the best waffle. they also tested which maple syrup to find out which one tastes the best. morning waffles are a treat for many families. if you feel like you're missing out, consumer reports tried out a half dozen of the most popular waffle makers on the market. the machines were tested on their high and low setting. how consistent they were from batch to batch. some took a lot of practice to turn out a perfect waffle. like this aluminum belgian

consumer reports found that the warring belgian waffle maker can be toasted to your liking, light to dark. kweesenart. and it beeps when your waffle is ready so you don't have to keep an eye on it. but wait, your waffle isn't complete without a dose of maple syrup. the real stuff that comes from trees. consumer reports taste tester sampled 14 syrups. ellen clausic said her team . now pancake syrup is far less expensive than pure maple syrup

fructose corn syrup. for more information on this story and other consumer news, go to our website, wlos point com and click on consumer reports. >> frank: correcting signs

why gun advocates >> larry: right now at 6, tracking weather changes. high winds knock down a tall pine tree. >> darcel: to snow now in the forecast. >> jason: winter weather advisories kick in at 7 o'clock this evening. >> larry: tonight we have live team coverage of what the weather has already brought and still what's to come. now from western north carolina's news leader, this is

>> larry: powerful winds take down trees in cherokee. leaving a mess to clean up. those storms also left thousands in the dark in the mountains. >> darcel: there could be more damage tonight as the rain is expected to turn to snow. we have live team coverage. >> larry: first, lets get on over with chief meteorologist jason boyer. >> jason: i think when a lot of us woke up this morning a lot on our minds was when is this over. we're getting snow flakes to mix in but nothing accumulated at this time. i really don't expect anything to accumulate until tonight. snow over the smokys, over the nantahala mountains. at times over to macon county. another batch will move in overnight. this is by no means the main

that comes overnight and through tomorrow. winds blowing in asheville. winds have been gusting over 35 much of the day. they will begin to relax only a little bit. winter weather advisories from 7 o'clock this evening to 7:00 a.m. friday. you can see the snows expanding on the future cast. i'll tell you who is going to get most of it and how much will fall in your neighborhood. stick around. >> darcel: our team coverage continues now in maggie valley. >> larry: rex hodge joins us. what happened out there, rex? >> rex: i'm here at riverside village in maggie valley. strong wind knocked down one of these pine trees and fell in to the roof. the heavy tree cut right through the roof and damaged her car. she says the storm raced through maggie valley about 7 this morning with a sound she compares to a train.