Boy Scout Found Alive in NC Mountains

CNN.com says that Michael Auberry, a 12-year old boy scout, has been found in the mountains of North Carolina near where I grew up. He had been missing since Sunday near Traphill, N,C. [Google Map], in Wilkes County, the same county where I grew up in Boomer, N.C. [Google Map].

Being from that area, I can attest to both the remoteness of the forest and the cold spring temperatures there. CNN says: "Weather remained a concern for searchers because temperatures have hovered near and below freezing at night." Let's take a closer look at what the poor boy must have encountered weatherwise. Below is a map of low temperatures near Traphill on Sunday night, obtained from MESOWEST (The Government Mesonet).

I know it's hard to tell the scale of the map but that's Boone, N.C., on the left and Dobson, N.C., on the right. The pushpin is in Traphill. The nearest official stations to Traphill are Wilkesboro and Boone. At Wilkesboro, it got as low as 23 degrees F on Monday night, and at Boone, which is higher elevation, it dipped to 17.6. At Laurel Springs, which is another government station and closest to Traphill, it fell to 22 degrees.

(WILKESBORO | BOONE)

So I would estimate that the boy had to deal with temperatures in the low 20s Sunday night, at which point he certainly would have had to put his Boy Scout training to work to survive. We here at AccuWeather.com are all happy to hear that the boy has been found alive and wish his family and rescue workers of Wilkes County the best.