Cumberland Mountains
Southern Appalachians USA
Winter In The High Knob Massif
Winter In The High Knob Massif
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved
Happy Holidays 2024
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved
Winter 2024-25 has gotten off to a fast start since the pre-Thanksgiving snowfall in November when
a major pattern change occurred following a stretching of the Polar Vortex.
Happy Holidays 2024
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved
(All captured images courtesy of Wayne Browning)
3 December 2024
Rime-Snow and Bitter Air
High Knob Lookout Tower
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
A general 4" to 5" of snowfall during the first few days of December followed more than 10" during the October-November period.
3 December 2024
High Knob Lookout Peak
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
A beautiful display of the snow covered high country remained visible on December 6.
6 December 2024
Observed the frozen surfaces of lakes within the snow covered Big Cherry Lake and High Knob Lake basins, in contrast to the snow free Powell Valley floor.
Afternoon of 8 December 2024
Northern Slopes of High Knob Massif
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved
Widespread snow cover by the afternoon
of December 8 was generally restricted to
northern slopes above 3300 feet.
Afternoon of 8 December 2024
Lingering Snow Drifts_High Knob Peak 
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved
Isolated 4-6" drifts remained along the crestline of the High Knob Peak, within a widespread 2" (1-2") surface covering.
8 December 2024
High Knob Lookout
Wayne Browning_iPhone Photograph
Numerous visitors had been at the Lookout,
with only minor ice remaining on the road.
11 December 2024
High Knob Lookout
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
A general 2" to 3" of snow covered the High Knob Massif during a windy rain to snow transition on December 11, 2024.
12 December 2024
High Knob Lookout
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
A general 1-2" of snow coated lower-middle elevations along and north of the High Knob
Massif and Tennessee Valley Divide.
11 December 2024
Snow Clings To Trees
Jessica Bier_iPhone Photograph
11 December 2024
Winter Wonderland In The Hollow
Jessica Bier_iPhone Photograph
11 December 2024
Majestic Snowfall In Wise County
Jessica Bier_iPhone Photograph
Northerly upslope flow enhanced a low-level inversion behind a cold frontal passage into December 19.
19 December 2024
Rime Forest of High Knob Massif
Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
This generated majestic rime formation at
upper elevations in the High Knob Massif
where air temperatures were below freezing.
19 December 2024
Obscured In Icy Clouds
Looking Toward High Knob Peak
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
This made five consecutive days in the clouds.
19 December 2024
Majestic High Country Riming
Looking Toward Big Cherry Lake Basin
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
A clipper system and Great Lake moisture generated significant additional riming during December 20-21, with around 3" of snowfall at highest elevations in the High Knob Massif.
21 December 2024
Significant Rime Formation
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Snowfall was limited to 1.5" or less across much
of the area, below 3000 feet, as conditions became unfavorable for ice crystal growth.
21 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Eagle Knob Communications Complex
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Absolutely spectacular conditions were observed into morning hours of December 22 as skies cleared above the massif.
22 December 2024
Spectacular Sunrise Conditions
Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Air temperatures plunged into single digits to
near 10 degrees in upper elevations, with near
zero degrees in Big Cherry Lake basin.
22 Decenber 2024
Spectacular Sunrise Conditions
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
22 December 2024
View from Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Looking Toward Eastman In TN Valley
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Smoke plumes from Eastman Chemical Company could be clearly seen leeward of the massif in the Great Valley of northeastern Tennessee.
22 December 2024
GOES-EAST Satellite Image
Although the event was light it still
generated a typical NW flow pattern
with leeward snow shadows.
22 December 2024
GOES-EAST Image
Counties and Areas of Accumulated Snow
Total event precipitation varied from 0.40" or more along windward crests of the High Knob Massif and Black Mountain, Ky., to 0.04" at Tri-City Airport and 0.00" in Kingsport of northeastern Tennessee.
24 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Widespread Christmas Eve Snow Cover
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Snow cover continued to be widespread at
upper elevations of the High Knob Massif through
Christmas Eve Day, with cloudy skies and chilly air temperatures in the 30s.
24 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Christmas Eve Sunset
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Snow lingered through Christmas Day at highest elevations, especially on northern exposed slopes (where another white Christmas was recorded).
25 December 2024
High Knob Massif
View Toward High Knob Lookout
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
How many Christmases since 2000
have been white in these views?
Here are the years:
2000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2009
2010
2012
2013
2014
2017
2018
2020
2022
2024
A total of 15 out of the past 25 years
(60 percent) were white in these views.
25 December 2024
Christmas Morning
Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Wolf Creek Wetland
Laurel Fork of Stock Creek
A little snow lingered into Christmas afternoon as low as 3000 feet in the Wolf Creek wetland valley of the High Knob Massif.
25 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Wolf Creek Wetland Valley
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
This is yet another cold air generating location
in the high country, and is located near the far southwestern end of the massif (*).
This wetland valley is on the Laurel Fork of Stock Creek, within the Powell Mountain block (between East Stone Gap and Duffield) of the High Knob Massif.
25 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Wolf Creek Wetland Valley
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
The upper valley is relatively open and majestic, but this changes quickly downstream. Significant logging and past disturbances have impacted the wetlands and adjacent slopes.
25 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Wolf Creek Wetland Valley
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) and
Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis) trees are
relatively abundant in this cold air basin.
Although I have not recorded temperatures here, the presence of partially frozen ground and some lingering snow indicated that it does generate cold air. Whether it collects cold air, like the much bigger and less disturbed Big Cherry Basin, is not known. Thickening down valley vegetation at least suggests that collection could occur.
25 December 2024
High Knob Massif
Wolf Creek Wetland Valley
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Numerous upper elevation (bowl-like) hollows, above 3300 feet, are also found near this area in vicinity of Bowling Knob of the High Knob Massif. These majestic hollows are a characteristic feature of the Powell Mountain block and massif.
25 December 2024
Upper Elevation Hollow
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Perhaps, that is how Bowling Knob got its name?
25 December 2024
Upper Elevation Hollow
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
These areas have also been highly
disturbed by widespread past logging.
25 December 2024
Upper Elevation Hollow
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Amazingly, nearly all trees in these wetlands (including Wolf Creek and these high bowls) were cut within recent decades.
25 December 2024
Upper Elevation Hollow
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
These wet sites clearly possess, and certainly did contain, rich biological diversity and only a few places suggest what they may have been like
prior to extensive logging.
25 December 2024
Upper Elevation Hollow
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
25 December 2024
Northern Exposed Slopes
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
25 December 2024
Northern Exposed Slopes
Near Bowling Knob of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Early Winter Season Events
16 October 2024
First Significant Snow-Rime
High Knob Lookout of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
The first significant snow-riming decorated the high country just as autumn color was peaking.
16 October 2024
High Knob Massif
Snow-Rime-Autumn Color
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
The bulk of early season snow fell just prior to Thanksgiving when a general 4" to 8" covered the High Knob Massif (from northern base to summit).
24 November 2024
High Knob Massif
High Knob Lookout Tower
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
This was a significant event.
21 November 2024
Elevation 4196 Feet
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Note it takes approximately 6" of snow depth to cover the bottom rail of the door in these comparison images.
22 November 2024
Elevation 4196 Feet
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
Wind blown snow depths of 4" to 12"+ were common
across the high country, with local drifts of 2-3+ feet (as suggested by isolated 8" drifts remaining on November 26 following rain and days of above freezing conditions).
24 November 2024
Fog Inside Powell Valley of Wise County
View from Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved
This was an interesting shift in the pattern within a November which generally featured much above average temperatures.
November temperatures were around 5.0 degrees (F) above longer-term means, despite some of the coldest temperatures in the southern Appalachians being experienced in the High Knob Massif as the month closed (single digits to lower teens).
Winter possesses a special beauty.
Winter Beauty
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Red Maple
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Wind Blown Beauty of Winter
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Frozen In Time
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Night-time Adventure For Survival
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Wind Damage
Hurricane Helene
The high country of the High Knob Massif took a severe hit from remnants of hurricane Helene, with simply amazing and locally disastrous damage.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 237 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
The worst wind damage I have ever seen, and certainly some of the most severe across the southern Appalachians, occurred during this
event at upper elevations.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 237 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Wind speeds undoubtedly topped 100 miles per hour to do this type of damage, even though soils were saturated prior to the passage of Helene.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 237 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Nearly all trees were blown down
in the same direction by SE winds.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
A significant amount of damage was done to northern hardwood forests, as well as rich mixed-mesophytic and cove forest communities.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Differences in damage between windward facing slopes and crestlines (SE) and those leeward (NW) are absolutely dramatic, with the bulk of destruction along those facing southeast.
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Damage
Route 619 of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Aftermath
High Knob Lake Basin Wind Damage
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Aftermath
High Knob Lake Basin Wind Damage
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Aftermath
High Knob Lake Basin Wind Damage
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
Hurricane Helene Aftermath
High Knob Lake Basin Wind Damage
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
High Knob Massif
Hurricane Helene Wind Damage
Near Bowling Knob of Powell Mountain
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
High Knob Massif
Hurricane Helene Wind Damage
Near Bowling Knob of Powell Mountain
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
High Knob Massif
Hurricane Helene Wind Damage
Bowling Knob of Powell Mountain Area
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
High Knob Massif
Hurricane Helene Wind Damage
Bowling Knob of Powell Mountain
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning Photograph
September rainfall was certainly not trivial, with a general 12.00" to 14.00"+, but it did not result in the extreme damage as observed toward the southeast across western North Carolina and extreme eastern Tennessee.
Summer 2024
The summer season was seasonally cool in the High Knob high country, at least, relative to lower elevations and those places which endured much drier and warmer conditions to the north and east of the massif (where drought ruled).
This was exemplified by Big Cherry Lake basin where the summer maximum temperature on the basin floor reached 86 degrees (3186 ft elevation).
The summer maximum reached 82 degrees along the southeastern basin rim (at approximately 3450 feet elevation).
While the basin head, on the High Knob peak at 4223 feet, was coolest by day, high valleys were significantly cooler at night.
Average summer nights dipped to 52 degrees on the basin floor of Big Cherry, with coldest nights falling into the 40s and 30s.
Summer inversions are typical of the high basin, with more than half of total time during the June-August period of Meteorological Summer 2024 decoupled from the overlying atmosphere.
Translated, the above meant that the climate along the basin floor in these high valleys was different from that of the surrounding area and region. The microclimatological significance over longer time periods is that conditions are supportive of species possessing northern affinities (exemplified by many breeding bird species who main home ranges are far to the north or on the highest Appalachians summits).
A few I have officially documented include (*):
Blackburnian Warbler
(Setophaga fusca)
Black-throated Blue Warbler
(Setophaga caerulescens)
Black-throated Green Warbler
(Setophaga virens)
Brown Creeper
(Certhia americana)
Canada Warbler
(Cardellina canadensis)
Chestnut-sided Warbler
(Setophaga pensylvanica)
Dark-eyed Junco
(Junco hyemalis)
Hermit Thrush
(Catharus guttatus)
Least Flycatcher
(Empidonax minimus)
Magnolia Warbler
(Setophaga magnolia)
Red-breasted Nuthatch
(Sitta canadensis)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
(Pheucticus ludovicianus)
Veery
(Catharus fuscescens)
Winter Wren
(Troglodytes hiemalis)
*While some of these birds can be found at lower elevations, it is this composite mixture which makes
these high basins unique to these associations.
This section is under construction.
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