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Woodland Art Fair this weekend!

cartography — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:00:41 +0000

Come down to the Woodland Art Fair the is Saturday and Sunday and check out our new Great Smoky Mountains National Park map. Mention that you read this post on our News section and get $2 off any map purchase and a special gift.

The fair runs Saturday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., or there abouts. We’l stay as long as you’re visiting!

The map to out booth is provided below:

Webcams for Great Smoky Mountains

cartography — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:15:33 +0000

After a few months of intermittent outage, the four webcams that cover the Great Smokies are all working. Now we can compare sky conditions on both sides of the mountain and also observe sunrise and sunset. The webcam animations also work, too!

You can view these webcams on our weather page: outrageGIS.com/weather/grsm

2010 Draft of New Great Smoky Mountains Trail Map

cartography — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:54:43 +0000

Welcome to our new topographic map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At 1:50,000 scale, this will be the most detailed map published of the park. We’ve added a couple new features to help better navigate in this wonderful national park, such as the new official trail system and elevation contours. We’re almost done!

You can check out a public draft here: http://www.outrageGIS.com/grsm/draft and please tell us what you think in the below comments section.

New Features:

1:50,000 scale, which is 140% enlargement of the Trails Illustrated map
100-foot contour interval with 500-foot index contours
Canopy cover type indicating deciduous, evergreen, shrub, grass, and open areas
1-minute Geographic coordinate grid for GPS
Elevations for trail intersections and other points of interest
Mileage shown between trail intersections and campsites
Updated official trails and campsites
Unique hillshading shows topography clearly

El Niño to make the mountains colder and drier this winter

cartography — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:56:55 +0000

Predicting climate in the old days relied upon observing cues in nature. The Farmers’ Almanac finds that people looked at woolly worms in late summer in get a sense of winter. The more black hairs on the worm, the colder and wetter the winter. Of course woolly worms come in all configurations of black and orange colorings so how could a worm’s coat predict winter? It can as an analogy; you look at the forecast to decide which coat you’re going to wear before leaving home. I think you would want to wear a black coat as opposed to a white coat on a very cold and sunny day to maximize the amount of solar energy you could absorb. Woolly worms just plan far ahead.

Today we track global changes in wind patterns and sea surface temperatures to predict weather conditions. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has issued a climate forecast for this winter based on the El Niño pattern emerging in the Pacific Ocean.

Below are winter predictions for the U.S. indicating greater or lesser chances for departures in average winter temperatures and precipitation.

El Niño is a departure from average sea surface temperatures created by a change in the intensity and direction of equatorial winds. In a normal period, strong easterly trade winds blow across the Pacific and upwell cold, nutrient rich waters on the west coast of South America. These same winds also pile up water in the western Pacific so that the sea surface is about 2 feet higher at Indonesia than at Ecuador.

In an El Niño cycle, the winds are not as intense and warmer sea surface temperatures extend further to east. This change has a global impact on weather with increased precipitation on the west coast of South America and the south & east coasts of North America. Warmer than normal conditions also occur at higher latitudes in North America and over the Pacific ocean.

El Niño Sea Surface Temperatures in °C

First freezing night in the Great Smokies

cartography — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:44:52 +0000

Overnight the temperature dropped to 25° F at the Newfound Gap weather station, elevation 5,000 ft. Mt LeConte at 6400 ft above sea level recorded a low temperature of 31° F. The slight warming at 1,400 ft higher in elevation is caused by a temperature inversion that most frequently happens in autumn mornings.

The lowest temperature recored at Mt. LeConte for September 29 was 24° F and that happened in 2003. The coldest night ever recorded since 1988 was -22° F, which occurred last February 4.

Station reports for 7:30 am, September 28 – 7:30 am, September 29:

STATION             ELEV    HIGH    LOW     PCPN    SNOW DEPTH
SUGARLAND CENTER    1600     75      45     0.00
NEWFOUND GAP        5000     62      25     0.00
CADES COVE          1900     73      44     0.00
OCONALUFTEE         2040     79      42     0.00
MOUNT LECONTE       6400     57      31     0.01

http://www.outrageGIS.com/weather/grsm

All weather cams are up

cartography — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:50:02 +0000

Look Rock, Sept. 24

After a few months of intermittent outage, all four weather observation cameras for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are now operational. We archive full-day animations for 3 webcams and the visible satellite view of the park every day at:

http://www.outragegis.com/weather/img/animation/yesterday.

For previous days, you can access other days by replacing “yesterday” with the 6-digit year month day combination. For example, for September 24, 2009 replace “yesterday” with “090924″and create this link:
http://www.outragegis.com/weather/img/animation/090924.

For highest resolution images, just click on the preview images.

The two National Park cameras are located on Look Rock and Purchase Knob. Look Rock camera overlooks most of the park. The two National Forest cameras, Cold Mountain and Joyce Kilmer Wilderness, overlook small portions of the park.

Now let’s watch fall pass in the mountains!

Sept 12: Sheltowee Trace Meeting in Winchester

cartography — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:49:06 +0000

The Future of the Trace: Sept 12, 2009

Join a group of trail enthusiasts and forest & park officials at the Daniel Boone NFS headquarters in Winchester to discuss the future of the Sheltowee Trace. We need as many committed folks as possible to attend. Voice your support for the Sheltowee Trace.

If you would like to attend, you can RSVP here with a comment so we can plan for breakfast and lunch!

Time: 9:30am
Where: Clark County Extension Office (map below)
1400 Fortune Dr
Winchester, KY 40391-8292
(859) 744-4682

Preliminary Agenda

9:30 to 10:00 – Meet and Greet – Coffee, Juice and Bagels, Donuts provided.

10:00 Opening Comments

Frank Beum, Forest Supervisor, Daniel Boone National Forest
Steve Handley, Big South Fork National Recreational Area, National Park Service
Carey Tichenor, Ky State Parks and Recreation
Steve Barbour, Interim Executive Director, The Sheltowee Trace Association

10:30 – Updates on the Current Condition of The Trace in each Ranger District and Plans for the next 12 to 24 months

10:45 – Current Management Plan Development

Federal and State Funding Levels
Challenges of a Muti-use Trail
Current on-going volunteer programs
Short Term and Long Term Maintenance Issues
Trace Blazing – Signage
Land Acquisition
Trace Relocation
Maintaining Easements
Development of the Volunteer Base
Promoting The Trace across the state

Following these discussion will be a session on forming the Sheltowee Trace Association, a non-profit dedicated to promoting and protecting this National Recreation Trail.

Map:Here

Woodland Art Fair, Aug 15-16

cartography — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:54:35 +0000

Come down to the Woodland Art Fair the is Saturday and Sunday and check out our new maps. We will have the spring release of the Red River Gorge and the Sheltowee Trace South, both of which were designed and printed in the past 6 months. The map to out booth is provided below:

Sheltowee Trace Suspension Bridge Quiz

cartography — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:03:05 +0000

How many scenic suspension bridges exist on the Sheltowee Trace and where are they? If you think you know the answer, then please take our quiz and you might win some free maps.

Directions: If you can name or locate all of the suspension bridges on the Sheltowee Trace, then you can receive our new Sheltowee Trace map for free. Name all of the them and tell us which is the largest and which is the smallest, then you’ll get three free maps of your choice.

How to submit you answer: Email your answer to contest@outrageGIS.com beginning Friday, August 21, 2:00pm EST. You must be the seventh correct email to win. You only get one try and we’ll take your first answer.

If you’re not the 7th person to answer either question correctly, then you will still receive a bonus coupon to use at our online store. Just give it a try!

Ok….which bridge is this? If you need a little help, visit http://www.sheltoweetrace.com

Lexington Community Gardens

cartography — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:38:31 +0000

London Ferrell Community Garden

Locations of Lexington’s community gardens. Gardens maintained by Seedleaf: Nourishing communities by growing, cooking, sharing, and recycling food.