Some Haywood County residents awoke to temperatures just above freezing and a blanket of snow Tuesday, part of a national weather system that has left thousands without power and others without homes, or even their life, as a storm known as Sandy pummels the East Coast and is drifting inland.

While winter travel advisories were issued in Western North Carolina, major roads in Haywood remained safe for travel for the most part, though some residents in Cruso reported icy patches on the road, and others said Crabtree road was solid ice until it cleared up near the junctions with I-40 and and U.S. 23-74.

N.C. Department of Transportation workers were closely watching road conditions in the county, said Art Hartzog, county maintenance engineer.

Thanks to temperatures that didn't drop below ...