Winter Storms in the Smokies: What Visitors Need to Know

What To Do When The Weather Threatens Your Smoky Mountain Vacation

A few years ago, I took my family on a Gulf Coast vacation. We started off over by Mobile and then drove around the panhandle to visit family near Tampa.

Or at least that was the plan. There was something swirling in the waters of the gulf. It was a tropical storm. The early models had it tracking well to the west of us. So, we got to the beach and did beach things. Of course, I heard occasional reports. But, I didn’t pick up on anything alarming or at least not until it was too late.

“Are you guys going to leave today?” It was a nice man on an elevator in the process of cutting his vacation short, while we were heading out exploring for the day.

“Nah,” I said, not connecting his question to the storm. “We’ve got one more day, and then we’re heading over to Florida to see family.”

He looked at me with some level of curiosity. We got back that evening, turned on the news, and found out what he was talking about. The storm had turned. Its arrival was within the next few hours. In retrospect, maybe I unplugged a little too much. 

Making The Safest Weather Decisions

We were left with three decisions: head out immediately and face getting hit by the storm at night as we headed east. Wait until the morning and do the same thing, but in the light of day. Bug out immediately, head north, and hope for the best. 

After some discussion, we chose to wait for daylight. We left early with a fierce but manageable rain coming down in waves. I felt OK. Then we saw a city work truck driving on the beach. There was a fingerling of water stretching from the main road to the gulf; it looked like runoff from the highway. As the city truck drove through, its front end disappeared into the washed-out gully. The driver – who must have absolutely filled his pants – gunned it, and the truck jumped back out of the water like a marlin on a line, landing on the sand and speeding off to safety. At that point, I absolutely regretted not taking the northerly option. 

I thought about the memory the other day as I read about the dozens of people stuck and undersupplied in cabins throughout the Smokies following a significant winter storm. Stay put, they say. Just stay warm, and things will be OK, I thought. But also, I flashed back to a father who’d messed up and left his family in a more dangerous situation than he should have. 

How Much Should I Factor In Weather When Planning My Smoky Mountain Vacation?

Unless you’re doing some at the last minute, not at all. The weather in the Smokies is predictably unpredictable. After a brief bout of cold in November and early December, we had a particularly mild Christmas season and a positively warm early January.

I started to believe we might be in for a winter without much winter weather at all. However, in the middle of the month, some of the more exotic weather models showed the possibility of a truly terrifying weather pattern that promised ridiculous amounts of snow and ice more than a week out.

Some online folks’ existence depends more on clicks than on accuracy. So, they began running with the massive numbers. But the more professional weather people – and the National Weather Service encouraged patience. Trying to predict East Tennessee weather, in general, is like balancing on a knife-edge. As weather patterns approach the mountains, things tend to change quickly. Any predictions more than a week out are really nothing more than fancy guesses. 

But if you put weatherman345 in your Twitter/X handle and put out some impressively colored maps, you can stir up a whole lot of interest.

How Do East Tennesseans Prepare?

The people of East Tennessee reacted as we always do when the threat of winter weather arises. We bought all of the bread and milk. ALL OF IT. But we also loaded up on generators, portable heaters, and anything else you could need for a prolonged winter power outage. Thankfully, we didn’t need it. At least not that time.

What ultimately happened with that storm was that Mississippi and Middle Tennessee got absolutely blasted with a deadly ice storm – power out for weeks in some places – and East Tennessee got a whole lot of nothing. Somehow, despite the deadly situation just a couple of hours to the west, some people with unrealistic expectations of the weather took the opportunity to crow. They promised to never take a weather person seriously again. But then came the next weekend.

After A ‘False Alarm’ Snow Falls In The Mountains

The threat of snow for the next weekend actually began materializing even as the first storm was petering out into a cold rain in East Tennessee and the mountains. However, the reaction was a little more muted as we focused on the tragic situation to the west. The internet sometimes yells at professional weather people who were not the ones, by and large, who had issued the more outlandish predictions. We did get winter weather advisories from places like the NWS. But those were always clear that the confidence wasn’t terribly high in the prediction, as a lot of variables were at play. 

It is possible that many focusing on the past didn’t see the predictions for the upcoming weekend. By Thursday, and certainly by Friday, confidence was high. We were going to get a significant amount of snow, and it wasn’t going anywhere for a few days. At my house, we got seven and a half inches of snow. Up in the mountains and further to the East, amounts were significantly higher, over a foot.

Typically, when snow falls in the Smokies, even in significant amounts, it doesn’t last too long. The sun comes out. Temperatures rise, and the snow melts, except in the shady places. The problem this time was that the temperatures stayed extremely cold. The sun didn’t come out, and the mountain roads are full of shady places. 

Stuck In The Mountains 

This time around, a lot of people got stuck in rental cabins and chalets and the like up in the mountains. Why were they stuck? Aren’t you people prepared for snow in the mountains?

Not like that. We’re not the Rockies, where you hook chains up on your wheel and go driving on through, Donner party be danged. We’re not equipped to clear the tight mountain roads with all their switchbacks of snow and ice. We pretreat the best we can and hope for the best. The problem with that, is a lot of the pretreatment requires a little activity and a little sun and heat to really get activated. 

And most of us don’t really try to get out when it’s that bad. They tell us to stay home and we – stocked with bread and milk – do just that.

So, the people who were stuck didn’t have a lot of options. They might have little heat or supplies, and they might be uncomfortable. But unless a life-or-death situation broke out, they were just going to have to wait. 

Rental Property Snow Accommodations

Many rental property owners made the best of the accommodations they could. Some were allowed to extend their stay, which meant cancelling anyone who was supposed to come in behind them. I have heard stories of others who did not, people who pushed their renters to get out. Despicable behavior, in my opinion.

Some renters were also frustrated that bigger efforts weren’t made to get them out or clear the roads. Again, to be clear, had someone’s life been in danger, I have no doubt local responders would have moved heaven and earth and all the snow to get there. But barring that, the best thing to do was hunker down and wait it out. It took the better part of the week, but now everything is getting back to normal. 

What Are The Takeaways From This Incident?

There are a few:

1. Consider Trip Insurance

I generally decide against trip insurance. I’ve vacationed through a tropical storm; at this point, I don’t think I need it with a single caveat: winter trips. If I’m going somewhere like East Tennessee or more northern environs, I’m going to seriously consider trip insurance. The fact that if you don’t go, you lose the money you spent on the trip can push people to make bad decisions. If you’re planning a trip to the Smokies in winter – which lingers into March, we’ve had some pretty good March snowstorms over the years – I’d seriously consider trip insurance for a Smoky Mountain trip in January, February, and mid- March, probably December, too. 

2. Listen to the Experts

The National Weather Service in Morristown has an excellent Twitter/X presence that keeps you well-informed and updated, including how confident they are in their predictions. I would make sure to follow them and the National Park Service for updates. Mark Nagi of the Tennessee Department of Transportation is also a good follow.  

That’s helpful year-round, as he also updates about wrecks, road closures, and stuff as well. I would keep an eye on the weather, but not freak out or panic from 10 days to a week out. If there is a threat of inclement weather, daily updates are a good idea. However, the predictions will typically be locked in within 24-48 hours of the start of your trip. If the weather threatens the back half of your trip, keep an eye on it and be ready to do what I didn’t: cut it short when it becomes evident the situation is near. 

I think this snow situation, at least in part, was made worse by the “false alarm” the week before.

3. Consider a Hotel in the Winter

Listen, I know the whole point of a chalet is getting up into the mountains away from everything. Chalets are built for snowy mountain vistas. But if you’re worried about getting in or getting out, the main roads in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are going to be significantly more manageable than the twisty mountain ones. I didn’t hear any stories about someone getting trapped at the Holiday Inn Express.

4. Understand that Driving in the Snow in the Mountains is a Different Animal

Before we moved to East Tennessee when I was a high schooler decades ago, I lived in Northern Indiana, where serious snow and ice are much more frequent visitors. What they don’t have in the hinterlands of Northern Indiana, however, are hills. Some who are used to driving in the snow see a relatively small snowfall and think they can navigate it just fine. They come to the mountains, wondering where all our milk and bread went, and find it is an entire situation. When you start sliding, and there’s a good-sized drop looming off your passenger side door, you get a whole new definition of the word pucker. 

5. Over Supply at Least a Little

If a decent chance of snow is in the forecast and you decide to press on, I’d suggest stocking up. Bread and milk, of course. But also, things that you can eat if the power goes out. Flashlights, batteries, and phone charges are also good ideas. Some cabins charge you extra for the grill, but that can be a lifesaver in terms of food prep. Be ready to be resourceful and keep making memories.

In the famous Blizzard of ’93, I was a senior in high school and couldn’t make it home after work. After a long struggle just to get up a hill, I wound up at my friend Joseph’s house, where I was treated like a member of the family. The wonderful and talented Mrs. Jones made us a bunt cake on the grill. Lovely, warm, and cinnamon-y, it remains the best cake I ever had or at least the one I remember the most.

Have you been stuck in a cabin in winter? Tell us about it in the comments and on the socials!