NEWS RELEASES
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Charlotte Observer's website.
An arctic blast halted travel through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway early Tuesday morning. The highway U.S 441 that connects Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to Cherokee, North Carolina; closed late Monday as the cold front moved and snow started to fall. The shift in weather is due to an incoming arctic air mass that will cause temperatures to drop as much as 20 degrees Tuesday. Mark Price, writer for the Charlotte Observer, relays in his article, "Winter weather advisories were issued for the North Carolina mountains, where the low was expected to be 16 overnight Tuesday and 20 on Wednesday. Temperatures were expected to rise to 41 degrees in the mountains on Wednesday and 48 on Thursday, making it possible the roads could reopen in the next day." Two to four inches of snow were expected in the higher elevations along the state line, and an inch in lower elevations according to the National Weather Service.
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