Great Smoky Mountains national park roads close after being pounded by last nights storm.

Roads crews and national park rangers are surveying damage and cleaning up what they can right now in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

While all roads in the GSMNP received damage due to fallen trees, limbs and rocks, Laurel Creek Road the entrance road to Cades Cove and Wears Cove Road between Wears Valley and the Metcalf bottoms area of Little River Road are now closed to all traffic.

The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail off Cherokee Orchard Road has enough limbs and smalls trees down, that the park service has closed it for the winter season a day earlier than scheduled.

Laurel Creek Road should be open by 9:00 am, but crews are still trying to determine of Cades Cove can be opened then as well.

Cherokee Orchard Road past Rainbow falls has a large tree down which crews are working on and Newfound Gap Road between Cherokee North Carolina and Gatlinburg Tennessee is open as well as Clingmans Dome Road and Little River Road.

Today is the last day that Clingmans Dome Road is open as tomorrow it will be closed for the winter season.

Additional high winds and rain is expected to further pound the Tennessee and North Carolina Smokies today with wind and flood advisories and warnings throughout the area. Check out our live up to the minute Smokies weather reports and our new live weather station feed and Road Conditions in the Smoky Mountains.

Update 11/30/10 9:01 am
Laurel Creek Road is now open but Cades Cove Loop Road is closed to all traffic until crews can finish cleaning up all of last nights storm debris.

Update 11/30/10 9:05 am
Upper Tremont Road is now closed to all traffic.

Update 11/30/10 11:22 am
Cades Cove is now open but Greenbrier Entrance Road is now closed.

Newfound Gap Road and most GSMNP roads open.

Beside all of the snow and ice on the roads, tree limbs laden with snow, broke, uprooted or just bent under the weight creating road blockages and hazards in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. Hikers may encounter obstructions related to this storm in backcountry for months.

Newfound Gap Road, Laurel Creek Road, Little River Road and Cades Cove Loop Road all remain open however Old State Road 284, the Foothills Parkway East, the Cataloochee Entrance Road as well as Lake View Drive all remain closed to due ice, snow and some other storm related cleanup needed.

Current Road Closures and Openings in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

All roads in the Great Smoky Mountains national park other than 1 Closed on Tennessee Side

Snow is still falling and it is just too much for the snowplows and sanders in the Great Smoky Mountains national park prompting the national park service to close all but one of the roads in the GSMNP due to snow and ice.

The only road, which has so far eluded closure, is Tremont Road, which is off Laurel Creek Road between the Townsend Wye and the entrance to Cades Cove. The section of Laurel Creek Road past Tremont Road has been already been closed for much of the day limiting all access Cades Cove and Cades Cove Loop Road, Sparks Lane, Hyatt Lane and Forge Creek Road. Rich Mountain Road and Parson Branch Road are both closed for the winter season.

This weekend is the beginning of the Christmas Holiday peak tourist season and with Newfound Gap Road now closed along with both a section of I-40 by border between North Carolina and Tennessee closed and Old State Road 284 between Big Creek and Cataloochee, getting around in the Smoky Mountains is going to be very difficult. As a result, retailers will most likely see sales suffer at a time when they are needed the most.

More often, it is best to stay put in weather conditions such as this. Driving on Smoky Mountain Roads is just better left to emergency vehicles only. Hopefully if you are visiting the Smokies this weekend you have a cabin with provisions so you can hunker down and enjoy the beauty of the Smokies in winter.

Current Road Closures and Openings in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Cades Cove closes due to winter storm in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

First Newfound Gap Road (US 441) in the Great Smoky Mountains national park closed, now Laurel Creek Road is closed just past Tremont shutting off all access to Cades Cove, which may remain closed for much of the weekend.

Cherokee Orchard Road by the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail just outside the city of Gatlinburg has been closed below the Noah Bud Ogle cabin at the gate by the Twin Creek Science Center.

Continuing accumulation may close the rest of the parks through roads such as Little River Road and the 2 Foothills Parkways.

Current Road Closures and Openings in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Cades Cove Concert: 40% chance of wash out.

Tomorrow a much anticipated event will helpfully take place in the Cades Cove, the crown jewel of the Great Smoky Mountains national park; the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will perform to a crowd of around 5,000 spectators to celebrate the parks 75th anniversary. There will also be special exhibits and programs on the history of Cades Cove.

The concert will take place at 3 pm near the Cades Cove Visitor Center in the back end of Cades Cove where there is very limited parking on asphalt and since there is no shelter from rain for performers and visitors and most of the cars will have to be parked on grass fields, even wet grass can become a parking and driving nightmare.

According to 3 Smoky Mountains weather reports the consensus is that there will be a 40% chance of rain with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning and a greater chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Thunderstorms + Open Fields with spectators = canceled event.

Unfortunately if the even gets canceled there is rain date or refunds.

Around 200 more vehicle passes are still available at $25 a pieces and can only be purchased and picked up today between 9 am - 5 pm at the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra box office located at 100 South Gay Street in Knoxville.

Laurel Creek Road will be closed tomorrow at noon to anyone without a vehicle pass or who is not a registered camper at the Cades Cove Campgrounds. This means you will not gain access to the following trail heads:

• Anthony Creek Trail
• Bote Mountain Hiking Trail
• Crib Gap Hiking Trail
• Finley Cane Hiking Trail
• Schoolhouse Gap Hiking Trail
• Turkey Pen Ridge Hiking Trail

Cades Cove will be closed all day to bicycles and pedestrians.

According the GSM national parks superintendent Dale Ditmanson "in the interest of avoiding a premature and unnecessary cancellation of the concert, the final decision may be delayed until the very last possible moment". Since we will be covering the event we will not be able to give out updates about potential cancellations but if cancellation is imminent the hot line phone number (865)436-1316) will be activated and we are told that www.GreatSmokies75th.org will have up to date concert information.

Let's hope the weather in the Smokies cooperates for the 75th anniversary celebration of the Great Smoky Mountains national park in Cades Cove.

2 more roads close in the Great Smoky Mountains national park

Snow and ice closes 2 more roads in the Great Smoky Mountains national park: Laurel Creek Road from the Townsend Wye to the Cades Cove entrance and the Cataloochee Entrance Road.

A few roads in the Great Smoky Mountains Nat Park

A few roads just opened in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but a still considered treacherous.

The newly opened roads are:

Little River Road from the Sugarlands to the Townsend Wye.

Laurel Creek Road to Tremont and Cades Cove

The Spur from Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge

Cades Cove Loop Road

The Gatlinburg Bypass section of the Spur

Entrance Road to Cosby

STAY ALERT AND DRIVE SLOW!

Drivers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Slow Down!

Anyone planning on driving in the Great Smoky Mountains national park on Newfound Gap Road (US 441), Laurel Creek Road, Little River Road and the section of the Foothills Parkway known as the Spur need to watch their speed especially this weekend as with the increased traffic from the Rod Run being held in Pigeon Forge traffic will be heavier and more than likely so will enforcement.

Traffic fatalities by far are the top danger to visitors in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. There are many hazards when driving in the National park, steep winding roads with blind curves with little or no guard rails, fallen trees branches and leaves after a storm, rock slides and beautiful scenery and wild animals that can distract a driver.

While these factors that can present a danger to drivers in the Great Smoky Mountains national park are unavoidable, driving and an excessive speed, passing cars in no passing zone (only small limited areas in the park are passing zones) and stopping in the roadway to observe and photograph deer, bear, coyote, fox or wild turkey and driving under the influence are all causes of serious and fatal accidents that can be completely avoided.

Another insanely dangerous activity visitors in the park partake in is riding bicycles on GSMNP roads that and have no shoulder and numerous blind curves where a car traveling at a safe rate of speed can come up behind a biker and when turning on the curve either hit a bicyclist, get hit from behind and they are slowing down to avoid a rider or swerving into oncoming traffic also rounding a blind curve or driving of the edge of the road.

Bicyclist should not under any circumstance ride on Little River Road between Metcalf Bottoms and the Townsend Wye. Honestly based upon the width of the roads and other dangers to drivers and riders, cyclists should be banned from all major roads in the park other than the Cades Cove Loop, Greenbriers roads, Elkmont's roads, and campground areas until bike lanes are put in.

Winter driving conditions with snow and ice in the Great Smoky Mountains national park are also particularly dangerous especially in the afternoon as previously safe roads can freeze up rapidly before the park service has a chance to close the road. Fog is also a concern especially higher up in elevation above the Chimneys on the Tennessee side and the Kephart Prong Trailhead on the North Carolina side.

Last but not least. Please do not beep your horn in the tunnels along Laurel Creek Road, the Spur and Newfound Gap Road. The sound can carry for miles - just ask any hikers along the AT.

Beeping your horn in a tunnel serves no purpose but to disturb others, the parks wildlife and engineers have told me the noise from a horn which is vibrations actually weakens structures over time.

So please for your own safety and others visiting the Great Smoky Mountains national park, drive safely and slow down!

Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National park closed due to Snow and Ice

Newfound Gap Road also know as US 441 in the Great Smoky Mountains is now closed due to snow and ice from today's snow storm.

Further complicating matters this road which connects Cherokee NC to Gatlinburg TN will probably be closed for at least the balance of the day if not the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend as cold temperatures and significant accumulation will keep this steep winding road treacherous.

It is also possible as the snow keeps falling that Laurel Creek Road, the Spur connecting Gatlinburg with Pigeon Forge TN, Cherokee Orchard Road and Little River Road may also close if the snowfall keeps up at its current pace.

For now significant accumulation is only at the higher elevations which are now inaccessible with the closure of Newfound Gap Road. Prior to the road being closed families and kids were making the best of the snow make snow men and sledding today as seen in the photo above.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Closes Newfound Gap Road, Laurel Creek Road and the Gatlinburg Bypass

The park service closed major roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park due to ice and snow including Newfound Gap Road (441) from Gatlinburg Tennessee to Cherokee North Carolina, Laurel Creek Road in Tennessee ending up in Cades Cove Tennessee as well as the Gatlinburg Bypass which connects Gatlinburg Tennessee and Pigeon Forge TN.

The weather in the Smoky Mountains is expected to remain below freezing for the balance of the day and a winter storm warning remains in effect until 4:00 pm today. Tomorrows predicted high of 34 degrees will probably not be enough to melt any of the Ice and snow that has already accumulated and today's predicted snow may keep these roads closed for days.