High Winds, Rain, Fog and Light Snow Blanket The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains national park has seen days of rain and melting snow saturating the ground toppling trees. With today's wind event gaining in strength, especially on the Tennessee side, it is best that visitors stay out of the park while crews work on making the roads in the park safe again.

Road closures include Newfound Gap Road and now Cades Cove Loop Road and even after the storm is over it may take a while to cleaned up the downed trees and dangerous snags before the roads will be safe to open again.

The Foothills Parkway West has so many downed trees Great Smoky Mountains national park road crews were only able to open the roadway into a single lane alternating on each side for administrative purposes and not for public access until the numerous trees blocking the roadway can be cleared.

Today's high wind advisory calls for gusts up to 45 mph and the winter warning in effect from 9 pm tonight to 4 pm Sunday calls for high winds, snow, sleet and freezing rain. Accumulations of less than 5 inches are expected in lower elevations.

This appears to be another weekend in the Smokies that if you do not have to be out on the road, it's best to stay home and stay safe.

Road Conditions in the Great Smoky Mountains national park

Rough weather for drivers and hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Rain, heavy fog and high winds are creating hazards for drivers and hikers in the Smokies this morning with gusts exceeding 45 miles per hour on some ridgelines.

Since we have been getting light rain on and off for the last 48 hours and the ground is wet, the high winds are creating a major blow down hazard and the high wind advisory which expires in a few hours will still be in effect in some isolated areas.

It is advised to stay off of ridge lines as hikers should avoid hiking in areas of high winds as this may pose and extreme danger.

Drivers must also use extreme caution on less traveled roads that may have a large accumulation of fallen wet leaves that may pose a skidding hazard.

Hikers must also use caution on hiking trails with heavy leaf accumulation as leaves may obstruct tripping hazards such has tree roots and protruding rocks and may be floating on water hiding this hazard as well as slippery rocks underneath.

If unsure of footing hikers should be probing the ground with hiking poles or a walking stick.

Rain is dampening spirits of leaf peepers and barely helping drought in the Smokies

Today marks the second day of light rain in the Great Smoky Mountains, just in time for one of the heaviest weekends of peak leaf season visitation and damping the spirits of some leaf peepers, but not enough to put a dent in the water shortage caused by 2 years of drought.

The rain though light, is knocking many leaves that turned in the trees onto the ground making hiking and driving on the wet slippery leaves a little more hazardous than normal.

As more and more leaves fall to the ground the threat of wildfires increases especially given the huge numbers of trees that have died in the past 2 years due to the stresses of drought, last years late freeze and the massive hemlock kill off caused by the invasive exotic pest the Hemlock woolly adelgid which is decimating the hemlock trees throughout the Great Smoky Mountains.

All of this excess fuel is creating the potential for a huge wildfire situation and we need to make sure that we clear as much brush as possible from around our homes and make firebreaks.

Last week a cabin rental company America Mountains Rentals had just cleared brush from the sides and behind a cabin for rent on Bluff Mountain in Wears Valley just days before a brush fire broke out threatening the entire mountainside.

A total of 5 local fire departments fought the wildfire day and night and were able to put it out that to the fact that there was a firebreak that slowed the fire down.

That entire section of Bluff Mountain was evacuated and fortunately American Mountain Rentals had a large enough inventory of cabins that they were able to give the evacuees alternate accommodations for the rest of their vacations.

Another cabin fire a few days ago burnt a large 4 bedroom luxury rental unit to the ground and luckily everyone was able to escape without injuries.

It is also crucial that we don't treat fire carelessly in the backcountry only making a fire when absolutely necessary in within a safe campfire containment area in designated campsites. More than once, I have come across a deserted campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains national park and found a fire still smoldering in a fire pit or ring.

It is also important that if you have been driving for a while that you do not park on top of a pile of leaves as your hot exhaust system can actually cause the leaves to ignite setting the leaves and your car on fire.

Light rain is expected to fall on and off throughout much of the Smokies today, and the weather should return to bright sunny skies by tomorrow.

Flooding and downed trees in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was pounded by wind and rain last night leaving downed trees and branches on roads and trails, swollen rivers and streams and some flooding.

All major roads are still open in the park but some local roads in near the park in Tennessee still have downed power lines and trees making driving hazardous.

Hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park need to be cautious of slippery trails, washouts, trees and branches blocking trails and stream crossings that may now be hazardous due to high swift moving water.

Numerous power outages been reported in the areas including our office in Sevierville - but thanks to Blazer Construction of Sevierville our electrical service was restored within hours.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Weather Related Roads Closings

Newfound Gap Road (US 441) in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is closed from Cherokee North Carolina to Gatlinburg Tennessee due to last nights snow and freezing rain.

Bad weather is expected for the balance of the day with sporadic freezing rain and snow so it is unknown if Newfound Gap will be opened today by the park service.

Forge Creek Road in the far end of Cades Cove remains closed due to muddy conditions and is not expected to reopen for the next few days.

Current conditions at 1,600 feet of elevation in Sevierville are extreme fog and freezing rain with slush on the ground at exactly 32 degrees.

Rain brings little relief to the Smoky Mountains.

Although it has been raining in much of the North Carolina and Tennessee Smokies from last evening until this morning it is too little to late to make much of a difference.

High winds and warmer temperatures throughout the Smoky Mountains yesterday morning turning into scattered light rain in the afternoon and the moderate rain into and throughout the night.

Since rainfall in the Smokies has been dramatically light this year as a result of the drought the Smoky Mountains region is suffering, branches and leaves that would have normally fallen throughout the course of stormy weather the past few months all seem to have fallen in the past 2 days.

Since so many branches and leaves have fallen throughout the night drivers, hikers and horseback riders must pay extra attention. Some of the tourist to the Smokies who normally don't have to deal with wet leaf litter on the road may not realize how slippery and dangerous leaves on the road can be - especially on mountain roads.

Hikers must also pay attention when hiking on trails as there is lots of fresh leaf litter on hard packed earth. Mix in exposed tree roots, slippery rocks and wet leaves on a trail and hiking can be like walking on a sheet of glass and the stepping onto a banana which can spell disaster - especially on steep trails.

People riding horses may also have to contend with downed branches across horse trails that can block a trail off and the leaves can make for slippery footing even for the most sure footed horse.

Experts in Western North Carolina claim that even though a few showers in the past week may have dampened the ground and made many small streams and rivers flow again, it is not enough precipitation to properly percolate into the ground. At the current rate of water usage imbalance, hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina can expect severe water issues or an interruption of water services if there are no interventions within the next 100 days.

According to the report sent to the North Carolina State Water Infrastructure Commission conservation and any normal rainfall which can be counted on may not be enough. Communities in North Carolina are already examining if they need to buy water from neighboring towns and cities, start even more severe conservation and restriction programs and maybe starting to use water from the last of the unused reservoirs.

The water shortage problem may be further complicated by the predicted light and dry weather meteorologists are predicting for the Smoky Mountains this winter.