Freezing fog

Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets (supercooled) freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime. These supercooled water droplets remain in a liquid state until they come into contact with a surface upon which they can freeze. As a result, any object the freezing fog comes into contact with will become coated with ice.

That is the official definition, and is what we saw on Newfound Gap this past week as we made our way over to the North Carolina side of the Smokies. I've included a few photos of this beautiful weather phenomena below.

On the morning I took these shots (December 28th) it was bitterly cold at the top of the gap. So I was quite surprised about how relatively little snow was still left from the December 18th storm that dropped 24 inches of snow on Newfound Gap. Before driving up there I was a little concerned that there would still be some slick spots near the top, but the road was virtually dry and free of ice and snow.

We spent five days in the Smokies on this latest trip. Over the next few day I'll be sharing photos from the trails we hiked.

Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.