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As I live about 1 hour south in Greenville, I will try and help.
I'm unsure of your location, but, snow at Christmas for any area of the Southeast is rare. Please refer to this probability map (from weather.com). Also, the National Climatic Data Center researched this topic and published a white paper in 1995.
As for Franklin, NC - please note that Franklin is much lower in elevation (elevation 2100 feet) as compared to Highlands (elevation 4100 feet). Highlands will have a much better opportunity to see actual snow for Christmas. If fact, in all of southwestern Western NC, I would argue that Highlands has the best probability.
Also note: my discussion is limited in the assumption you will not be hiking on Christmas Day to any of the 5k+ peaks in Nantahala National Forest.
Last edited by drfranklin; 10-30-2010 at 05:38 AM..
Thank you,
No, we won't be hiking, LOL, we wanted to see if we could drive around the day after xmas and maybe see "some" snow somewhere within 20 to 40 miles....Franklin is about an hour out from Gatlinburg, TN and about another hour from Ashville.
It all highly Depends on weather patterns.....Last year was the first year i could remember snow on the ground for Christmas and that was only because we got 16" in early December and it stayed cold for the rest of winter after that...However this winter is predicted to to warmer and drier then the last, so i would assume this Christmas like most of the previous we will see no snow....
Again, the highest elevation town in southwestern Western NC is Highlands. Of course, Gatlinburg, TN is at an even lower elevation (1400 feet) than Franklin, NC. IMHO, the chance of a white Christmas in Gatlinburg is minimal.
Please note that driving from Gatlinburg to Franklin, NC is at least an hour and 1/2. Of course, that's weather permitting on Hwy 441 thru the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Hwy 441 traverses the Newfound Gap at over 5,000 feet. There, snow averages 69 inches per year and is always 10+ degrees cooler than Gatlinburg/Cherokee.
Please note that driving from Gatlinburg to Franklin, NC is at least an hour and 1/2.
Yeah. No way in hades you can drive from Gatlinburg to Franklin in one hour. Even in 1-1/2 would be impossible, I would think, unless you had a very good car, and you did it in fair weather, in the dead of night so that there are no other cars on the road, that all of the law enforcement on the highway decides to take the night off, and that all the traffic lights in Cherokee and Dillsboro are green..
Give yourself at least 2 to 3 hrs to do this. If you are lucky and 441 is not closed for ice / snow.
Go to wayah bald about 12 miles outside franklin, there will be snow at the top
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