The first significant snowfall in North Carolina closed parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on Tuesday, and forecasters say some areas could get up to a foot of snow.
Ice and snow forced park officials to close Newfound Gap Road, a major highway connecting Cherokee to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, news outlets reported.
Mount Mitchell State Park, accessible only by car off the parkway, is closed. The park, about 30 miles north(48 kilometers) east of Asheville, registered a temperature of 14 degrees at the summit overnight Monday. By 9 a.m. Tuesday, the temperature had dropped to 8 degrees.
When the parkway is closed to vehicle traffic, visitors are still allowed to park at the entrances, as long as they are not blocking the gates
Forecasters at the National Weather Service said light snow was to continue along the Tennessee border through Tuesday morning, and that most areas will see around an inch of additional accumulation during the day. Any melting of snow during the day should be monitored after sunset for black ice, and gusty winds will produce wind chills 10 to 15 degrees below the air temperature, forecasters said.
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