Snow reaches over a foot deep in Great Smoky Mountains after arctic air mass passes

If you are wondering how much snow piled up in the North Carolina mountains over the past few weeks, let’s just say the higher you go, the deeper you’ll sink.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park reports it has 14 inches at Mount LeConte, which stands at an elevation of 6,593 feet.

Newfound Gap in the middle of the 522,427-acre park has 11 inches on the ground, the National Park Service says.

The park’s headquarters got 4 inches and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center has 3 inches, officials said.

Some of that snow was already on the ground when an arctic air brought record-setting cold to the mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line.

The National Weather Service warned night time temperatures would fall below zero in many areas, and wind chills of minus 20 degrees were possible.

Cherokee, on the east side of the park, sat at 6 degrees at sunrise Wednesday, Jan. 22, with a possible wind chill of 8 below zero.

Most roads in the Smoky Mountains were closed Wednesday, Jan. 22, due to the snow and ice. This includes US 441/Newfound Gap Road, a key two-lane highway that cuts through the park from Tennessee into North Carolina.

This story was originally published January 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM.