Heads up, readers. Turn to the Classified Advertising Section and you’ll notice The Smoky Mountain News has added a weather forecast. But it’s not just any weather forecast.

Ray’s Weather — founded by Appalachian State University professor Ray Russell — is already legendary in other parts of Western North Carolina for its consistently spot-on predictions of mountain weather.

Ten years ago, Russell had a passion for meteorology and a new weather station his wife had given him for Christmas. He put the station in his backyard and started publishing forecasts on his personal web page. His snow forecast discussion became a hit with students and professors, and word spread quickly. He launched raysweather.com — and the rest is history.

Today, Ray’s Weather is the most widely read media outlet in most of the mountain region. The astonishingly accurate forecasts are a result of Russell’s on-the-ground strategy — a team of six people monitor nearly 50 weather stations around WNC three times daily.

In contrast, most weather forecasts, particularly in more rural areas, rely on a single weather station located at the closest airport. The National Weather Service uses data from a station at the Asheville airport for the Waynesville forecast, though the two are 30 miles apart.

Ray’s team is rarely wrong. To see evidence of this, look no further than the campus of Appalachian State University, where it all started. It’s easy to tell who’s scanned Ray’s Weather forecast — they’re the ones carrying a rain jacket on a crystal clear morning, or layering a tank top under a heavy sweater with flip flops sticking out of their backpack. “Ray said,” is a common sentence starter, and there’s never a need for explanation.

Ray’s Web sites remains the center of the forecast. Readers praise its clear format and thorough, easy-to-understand play-by-play of the weather for that day and week. If there’s snow, a cold front, a heat wave, or a rainstorm, Ray knows exactly what time it’s coming and predicts, usually accurately, just how hot, cold, rainy or snowy it will be.

As of now, Ray’s Weather has only expanded as far west as Waynesville, with a weather station located on top of Mast General Store in the downtown area. Access a more in-depth forecast online at waynesvilleweather.com.

Plans call for expanding into more western counties.

“Our goal is to go into Franklin and Cullowhee,” said Jeff Cox, a meteorologist on the Ray’s Weather team. “That doesn’t happen overnight, unfortunately — but our goal is to take over as much of the region as possible.”

The Ray’s Weather station coverage area already extends from Boone south to Hickory, west to Asheville, north to Wolf Laurel and up to the Tennessee border.

To comment on this article email julia@smokymountainnews.com.