FRIDAY: Partial road closure

Passing along some important information for this Friday, Jan. 20.  Between 12 noon and 3pm, Apple Creek Road will be closed  above the big hairpin curve, just downhill of the mirror curve, as a professional tree removal crew takes care of a very dangerous split locust tree threatening the road. Pics below are courtesy of Chris Martin. Click to enlarge.

For those in ACA that burn firewood, the locust logs will be left for the taking, so bring your chainsaw and have at 'em.  There are two other locust trees side by side right at the entrance to ACA that are also slated to be taken down at a future date.  I will post information as it is made available to me.

bob

Light snow tonight

Update 745am Sunday:  23 degrees, 0.5-0.75" snow, though windblown...I can see Apple Creek Road for a good stretch centered around the mirrored curve and it looks basically black.  Not had any reports from drivers yet.  Hoping that leftover brine and salt did the trick.

I just got in from out of town and not been around the computer in a good while.  All along it looked we'd get an inch or less, though the radar is currently lit up rather nicely.  Moisture is moving west to east, as opposed from NW to SE, which usually keeps our amounts quite limited.  Driving up I noticed a lot of leftover salt and brine stains on the road, so would imagine the road will stay in decent shape.

There is a typical Winter Weather Advisory for the cursory 1-2" possible through Sunday morning, with most of that along the TN border and above 4K feet. Luckily early AM travel demands are not as big a deal on a Sunday versus a weekday morning.

bob

Apple Creek Road UPDATE

Two phone reports from 4wd vehicles that have gone down, one from the top....the road was salted well before sunrise and is starting to now work and make its brine.  Both vehicles said they had no slippage issues, though both said 2wd cars should be extra careful, of course.  No reports yet from anyone traveling uphill, but they can post comments herein.

bob

Another Wintry Blast....

A rather uncomfortable shot of wintry weather will plow in later today.  A Winter Weather Advisory was posted early this morning for us, effective from 6p through noon Friday.  

Heretofore it looked like a typical wrap-around snow event that was going to drop an inch or so of snow, at least above the blue roof house.  However, trends starting yesterday afternoon started to up totals a tad to 2", maybe even 3" around the top of Apple Creek Road.  The National Weather Service is now wording it for 2-3" for us in the upper half, 1-2" down low by the time all is said and done.

But that's not the only problem.  Temperatures will crash hard for a 48-hour period, much like the last event; once we drop below 32 degrees around supper time this evening, we won't cross above that until Sunday.  

Yet one more problem will be strong winds coming in with all this wintry package.  Wind chills go without saying, but with the saturated soils some trees could come down.  There is increasing concern that the pair of dead locust trees right at our entrance could come down any time, with those chances obviously upped with the winds.

I'll update later this afternoon if there are any changes to the going forecast.

bob

SNOW UPDATE, INFO

UPDATE below in RED

Easier to make a new post as opposed to amending prior posts.  At 7:20pm it's down to 17 degrees at my house, and the deck is white.  Better accumulation opportunities come in close to midnight, but up in exposed areas high in ACA winds are keeping snow moving around, for now.

Given the National Weather Service advisory, and given the radar returns I see in TN from the Morrisville radar, Apple Creek Road will be treated between 12am and 3am... hopefully the road will be in good shape for the early AM commute.  Precip is done late in the morning Tuesday, but we'll stay bitterly cold for a couple of days, so whatever falls sticks and stays.
 

6:00am

5:30am - 9 degrees and a tad over 2" on my deck.  Can't see Apple Creek Road so I have no idea what it's like.  TV folks say it's not good out there around our area on the back and secondary roads, but main roads are in decent shape, supposedly.  Just got in from shoveling my drive...powdery snow with no to minimal icy base.  Heard plow go by, so don't know if it's a second trip or if his schedule got backlogged, since many areas got the 2-4" of snow.

bob

Heads up: Monday night snow

Here we go again....yet another somewhat minimal weather system that could wreak some road problems in ACA, with our third wrap-around snow this season.  The first two didn't do much (in terms of snow), but this one could lay down a good road coating in ACA, especially overnight tonight.

There is a Winter Weather Advisory from 6p Monday through noon Tuesday, for 2-4" of snow, mainly above 3500 feet.  Heaviest snowfall will be along the TN line, and it remains to be seen how much makes it past the border to ACA.  The models I favor have held ACA at just an inch all along, with 3-4" just 10 miles away to the northwest.  Probably won't hit 32 degrees again, here, until Wednesday, so whatever falls will stick and stay.

Bob