Unusual early snow falling in NC mountains

From the "Like we needed this" Department:

An unusually early season snow has begun to fall across parts of the North Carolina mountains.

The National Weather Service says snow showers started to fall Saturday afternoon above 3,000 feet in the far western part of the state around the Smoky Mountains National Park.

Weather service meteorologist Patrick Moore says the snow showers should increase as the day continues with as much as 3 inches falling in some areas.

Moore says the snow should stay out of the bigger mountain cities in the valleys like Asheville.

The weather service says this is a few weeks early for the first snow in the North Carolina mountains.