Snow falls in the mountains
The first snow of the season has fallen in the Southern Appalachians.
LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reported a dinnertime dusting Sunday, Oct. 15. Overnight, snow and ice combined for a solid inch on the ground, making walking surfaces crunchy and then slick in places where multiple footsteps had already trodden.
As of Monday morning, the temperature was 26 degrees with light winds. The lodge sits at 6,360 feet above sea level, just below the 6,593-foot summit of Mount Le Conte, the park’s third-highest peak. Local Yokel Weather reported 2 inches of snow at the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Monday morning, an elevation of 5,830 feet.
On Tuesday, Oct. 17, the snow was 4 inches deep at Mount Le Conte, the National Weather Service reported.