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Bays Mountain Lee Band is back this morning, if not as stout. 

Looking back over radar all yesterday and tonight, there was also one south of Knoxville aiming into N. Sevier and parts of Cocke county. This one is associated with the same geologic feature that gives us Kingsport's Bays Mountain, but the far SW extension of the same. 

It seem like they both  really like the flow to be just north of due west: https://imgur.com/a/OcFAiHN

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Thanks for the explanation for this odd band Jeff. I had never noticed it before during northwest flow events. The flow around the mountain was more from the West yesterday and more from the northwest today. But, I’ve never noticed that band all by itself with no other bands close by before.

2bce2f45c0659840c6be1563f16d0435.jpg

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Yes I presume it is Bays Mountain. Effect might be more concentrated with a more westerly component, narrow more intense band. NW wind spreads it out and it is lighter. The more westerly the wind, less perpendicular to the mountain, the more it can line up and converge well at the end of the mountain. 

If it were ever cold enough on southwest winds (unlikely with WAA) an intense band would set up flowing to the northeast. Again, it is just a hypothetical. Meteorology around here rarely if ever would support the scenario. IDK, anyone in Kingsport see something like that? 

I find Kingsport vs JC quite interesting in a wide range of cases, from these micro-scale events to the synoptic scale. Kingsport and JC behave differently on the front and back side of synoptic systems. I'm not sure which would mess with my head more, Kingsport gets the early start, but risks early shut-off. JC has to wait, nerve racking, but usually gets it eventually.

Chattanooga is easy. Just forecast rain, lol!

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In total I got a little under an inch of snow spread over the last two days. The last of the snow showers ended here at 10:30 this morning. Seeing a good opportunity to take some pictures, for the first time in over a year I decided to hike on top of Chestnut Ridge on Gents Knob which sits at 2500'. (where I live). The hike up there is frustrating without any trails but the view is worth it! While up there I took pictures of the mountains after the sky cleared out. I'm certainly not a skilled photographer but I thought these were some good shots. Getting these to upload were a hassle and I ended up having to compress the images at 20% quality. Today's low was 17 and the high was 30. Snow on the southern faces of the hills and mountains sublimated away rather quickly this morning but stuck around in the shade.

River Mountain

710111611_img_10271.thumb.jpg.90e62eff1e75376a7fcf551792757e4d.jpg

 

 

House and Barn Mountain

1273973073_img_10201.thumb.jpg.86954bbe73fe83a1bca4c1257766f848.jpg

 

 

Big A Mountain

1677020091_img_10151.thumb.jpg.ec0257789070bb0d149bba9948159fef.jpg

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1 hour ago, nrgjeff said:

Yes I presume it is Bays Mountain. Effect might be more concentrated with a more westerly component, narrow more intense band. NW wind spreads it out and it is lighter. The more westerly the wind, less perpendicular to the mountain, the more it can line up and converge well at the end of the mountain. 

If it were ever cold enough on southwest winds (unlikely with WAA) an intense band would set up flowing to the northeast. Again, it is just a hypothetical. Meteorology around here rarely if ever would support the scenario. IDK, anyone in Kingsport see something like that? 

I find Kingsport vs JC quite interesting in a wide range of cases, from these micro-scale events to the synoptic scale. Kingsport and JC behave differently on the front and back side of synoptic systems. I'm not sure which would mess with my head more, Kingsport gets the early start, but risks early shut-off. JC has to wait, nerve racking, but usually gets it eventually.

Chattanooga is easy. Just forecast rain, lol!

I double checked its elevation...about 2,300' on the NE end here in Kingsport.  ChimneyTop is about 3,000'.  Wikipedia better be right with those elevations!  It runs like a wall through this area.  It is basically about 1.5 miles from my back yard.  That said, I rarely "see" it impact the weather.  But I may have to reconsider.  It did indeed save my neighborhood from the Gray tornado several years ago.  It forced the tornado to lift over the mountain.  Hailed like crazy and did a lot of damage...but still had a house after the fact!   It definitely gets more snow up top, right along the ridge line.  However, I never had any idea that it caused that odd snow band on northwest flows.  It is there often.  I used to have to drive through it.  That snowbound often runs from roughly Fall Branch/Rock Springs to about Boone Dam.  I do think on my side that we get a bit of lift(northwest side of it).  I do think it can create a slight snow shadow over town.  Anyway, thanks for the explanation.  

 

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I grew up just at the foot of Bays Mountain in Ridgefields neighborhood: 1983 - 2007. I remember in my ancient days (the early 90s) that some of the best of what I would now call orographic lift NW flow events seemed to come in from the SW down the side and up the Holston. Bays Mt runs SW -NE, so it's possible that the western edge just caught the band first and it seemed to be coming in from the SW. I remember many NW flow events where Carter's Valley seemed to always have the bands. 

I also remember one day my dad came back home after his morning trip to Pals and claimed the south/ east parts of he area (Ft. Henry drive/ Colonial Heights) had an 1" of snow and we had nothing. He sometimes liked to mess with me on the weather, but this is making me reconsider. 

I think I seem to remember one instance where some crazy upper low was over the Ohio Valley in a perfect position and cold air was getting pumped in from the SW, but may be wrong. 

 

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GOES-16 eye candy never gets old!

Yes @Holston_River_Rambler cold hanged in the Valley. I might call it more cold air drainage from SW Virginia. Sometimes light winds will let it drain without warming on the way down. Happens going into Portland, OR (and other Pac NW) sometimes with high press anchoring the cold. We had a high press anchor Wednesday night here.

In other cases the Plateau can act like a (micro-scale) cold air dam. Precipitation event a few years back (and others) the west side of the Great Valley was below freezing while temps on the east side got above freezing. One could almost call that in-situ, as HP was nowhere to be found in another cold rain day for Chattanooga.

Still the Carolinas are the king of CAD on the meso-scale, bigger than our micro. They can have it. Much as I complain about cold rain, I'll take it over ice 1,000 times. If it's not a snow temp profile, punt.

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I just wanted to say that the discussion about the Bays Mountain snow band was really interesting. I’ve always had an interest in the effects of the terrain on our local weather, but I’ve never focused on that particular area before. I think Jeff’s explanation was spot on (as usual).

Someone also mentioned the band that set up in the Cocke County area. That is something I’ve noticed several times during a more westerly wind flow.  It’s probably a combination of convergence and upslope enhancement in that region.  These effects seem to be more significant during really cold air masses, when the dendritic growth zone is closer to the surface and the resulting low level vertical motion extends into the DGZ.

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I'll post this in the obs thread since my previous mountain wave post was here. 

MRX issued a Wind Advisory for the mountains of East TN for tomorrow.  The low level jet near the mountains isn't overly strong with this system, but there is still plenty of wind energy available. Model soundings over that area are very favorable for mountain wave development after 15z tomorrow.  I think this has potential to be a moderate mountain wave event for a few areas. 

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24 minutes ago, John1122 said:

 I've never been to Camp Creek, do people live there? I can't imagine the shingle replacement costs each year if they do.

Yes, it is a small community at the base of the mountains. The NOAA wind tower is located at Camp Creek School. There is also a Free Will Baptist Children’s Home next to the school. Most homes in that area have a metal roof.

The winds aren’t just a Camp Creek problem. Almost the entire southern half of Greene County is really windy in these situations.  South Greene High School has been damaged several times over the years

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