A snow 'primer'....

(NOTE: forgot to add the paragraph below in this blue type)

To save you from going back to old blog entries, and for the newer readers, I wanted to pass along how I keep abreast of potential winter weather.  To listen to WLOS or the radio or read a generic website will often give very incomplete information, if not misleading and/or incorrect.  When I post here, it is specific to Apple Creek Acres, our general N/NE exposure, and attention to our elevations which start at ~2880' at the entrance to ~3900' at the top.

The Moskos family lives in what most of us refer to as the 'blue roof' house, and that's important because they are pretty much at 3500'....ask anyone here, a LOT often happens at that elevation per winter weather problems.  You'll see me talk of issues above or below that location often.

Got an email today that the National Weather Service will release their upcoming Winter Outlook this Thursday morning, the results of which I'll pass along.  We've had two very hard winters in a row here, in terms of prolonged and numerous snow and icing events at ACA.  Many have to drive Apple Creek Road daily, so keeping our roads safe and passable is of paramount concern, though not always easily attainable when circumstances get beyond our control.

With that said, John Stoeckel makes the call for plowing and salting, and Claire will post any information on planned times for those events immediately when they know them, so check the website.  It is wise if you select to "follow" this blog (upper right 'join this site')...your info is private and not shared...but you'll get an email that there is a new post to read, so you don't have to check willy-nilly and maybe miss timely information.  Just a friendly suggestion.  :-)  NOTE:  Blogger can be a real pain and not display the above option...if you do not see it, refresh the screen or try again later.  Things show up inconsistently, unfortunately.

Wednesday night and again on Thursday night, temperatures will be approaching the freezing mark, at least above the blue roof house (see what I mean?).  I won't be a bit surprised to see snow mixing in with any showers (especially after midnight), but I do not expect any accumulation.  As the crow flies we're close to the Smokies and the Plott Balsams, and they could eek out an inch or two, according to one of the models I follow.

Ah, the models.  I will refer to them simply by their acronyms, the NAM and the GFS.  The NAM has pushed the snow idea for a couple of days now, but the GFS still is not showing any (outside of one run yesterday). 'Runs' occur 4 times a day, so when we're in 'alert' mode I check them often and compare trends, updating this blog as needed.

While we'll see no travel concerns from any of this, suffice it to say I'm going to have to switch from shorts to long pants for a while.  It will be significantly colder, and the winds won't help the situation.  It all calms down and warms up by this weekend, but after these gorgeous and mild days, it'll be a bit of a shocker.

Oh, and I often post a gratuitous 'cool' shot of something I've taken....this was last week after morning fog lifted over head and made for some neat sun shafts in the woods beside me....for any picture or graphic I post, you can usually click on it to enlarge some.

Bob