In the spring of 2009, I wrote a couple scripts to automate collecting webcam and visual satellite images of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and creating animations from them. Recently I put the archive of those animations online after a few requests. The archive also records the past 24-hour temperatures, precipitation, and snow depth for the day selected.
Questions like, when’s a good time to see fall colors, can be now be answered with a visual assessment from last year’s observations. Combare the days between October 10 and October 22, 2009, for a good answer. Between those days, the smokies received its first snowfall.
The archive can be found here: http://www.outragegis.com/weather/img/animation
Publishing this much info is as monumental as placing a cell tower at base camp on Everest. I love your site and all its available info. It sure helped me with planning my Friday November 5th, 2010 hike to the summit of LeConte, via Alums Cave Bluff Trail.
I hiked into and out of the weather as the rainy mist turned to snow & began comming down at an alarming rate about 3:00 Pm and fell until late into the night tonight. It is truly a winter wonderland up here when time stands still as God paints the earth white with his Pearls of Joy. The snow was about 8 inches deep outside the tent and the wind is howling wildly. I cant believe im here and it is Cold, around 20 deg out of the wind, but im not opening up to get a second read until morning. Cant wait until Sunrise. Blackberry in the winter night gives off a little light.
Good Night World! Brrrrr