Submitted by Nancy Gray
National Park Service
Newfound Gap Road is blanketed in snow in this photo taken on the morning of Monday, Dec. 21. (Photos courtesy of Nancy Gray/NPS)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is blanketed in snow. Snow continued to fall throughout the weekend with accumulations of: Newfound Gap, 20 inches; Mt. LeConte 32 inches; and Cades Cove and Park Headquarters 2 inches. Several roads are closed due to snow and ice, including Newfound Gap Road.
Snow has made many roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park impassable.
Roads that currently are closed include:
Tennessee
• Newfound Gap Road
• Foothills Parkway East
• Foothills Parkway West
• Greenbrier Road past the Ranger Station • Cosby entrance Road
North Carolina
• Cataloochee Road
• Old NC-284 between Big Creek and Cataloochee • Lakeview Road • Toms Branch Road
Visitors can access Cades Cove. Laurel Creek Road and Cades Cove Loop Road are open. Little River Road and Wears Gap Road are also open. The Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur and the Gatlinburg Bypass are open. Road crews are concentrating efforts on Newfound Gap Road. Snow removal operations will be continuous throughout today. Snow machine operators will continue to plow the road, remove piled snow from roadside with front-end loaders, and clear parking lots and overlooks. Also, several trees have fallen and some trees are so weighed down with wet snow that they are bent completely over blocking some areas of the road. Most likely Newfound Gap Road will remain closed today.
Visitors should call 865/436-1200 for a road conditions report.
