On January 17 and 18, an unusually powerful snowstorm clipped across the Southern Appalachians, dropping over 13″ of fresh snow in the coalfield counties of Southwest Virginia and the high country of North Carolina.  On January 18, Beech Mountain ski area reported the highest one-day snowfall of any area in the lower 48 states (for that day).

The following photos are from Beech Mountain on January 19:

The Alpine-like base area looked like a resort out West:

There was snow as far as could be seen.  This is the view looking north into Tennessee and Virginia: