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Brief Respite
A lovely, warm day precedes the return of winter with a vengeance
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Connor Danelson, 4, of Winston-Salem enjoys the mild weather by making sand castles while playing in Hanes Park.
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Published: February 3, 2009
Updated: 02/03/2009 12:15 am
Phillip Everhart intended to enjoy yesterday's mild weather on the golf course, but his dog, Recci, had other ideas.
"I was going to play golf, but she kept coming to me with the leash," Everhart said.
So Everhart and Recci, a German shepherd-Labrador mix, spent part of the afternoon in Washington Park, before wintry weather returned to the Triad and Northwest North Carolina.
A cold front that brought rain last night was expected to produce scattered snow showers in Forsyth County overnight, along with lower temperatures -- in the upper 30s today, compared with yesterday's high temperature of 60 degrees in Winston-Salem.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for some mountain counties, including Ashe and Watauga, and said that more than six inches of snow could fall, especially in the higher elevations and on west-facing slopes, through late Wednesday.
The weather service expects little or no accumulation of snow in the Piedmont.
Traina Morris of Advance said she is tired of wintry weather. She and Garrett Poole of Thomasville played 1½ hours of basketball yesterday at Washington Park.
"It is good to be outdoors and enjoy the day," Morris said.
Yesterday was Groundhog Day, and North Carolina's four-legged forecasters issued conflicting forecasts on whether winter would continue for six more weeks.
The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh sought the view of guest groundhog Sir Walter Wally yesterday. He was held up to the ear of Mayor Charles Meeker, who interpreted a prediction for a longer winter.
But on the home turf of pork barbecue, a potbellied pig in Lexington named L'il Bit snorted a prediction translated as predicting an early spring.
Lexington calls its event "GroundHawg's Day" for its porcine predictor.
At Salem Lake in Winston-Salem, six people gathered on the pier to fish and look at the surroundings.
Nancy Mershon, a local real-estate agent, and Hank Marsh of Winston-Salem sat on a bench on the pier. She said they had played tennis earlier at Bolton Park and decided to come to Salem Lake.
"It is just a nice and peaceful day," Mershon said amid the quacking of several ducks in the lake.
Benjamin Aquino was nearby, baiting his hook in an attempt to catch fish from the pier.
Aquino said he often fishes at Salem Lake and had planned to come to the pier today regardless of the expected cold, rainy weather.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
■ The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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