First Snow of the Season Coats Highest Peak in Eastern US in Rime Ice

Wind-driven snow swept across the summit of Mount Mitchell in North Carolina on Saturday morning, October 17, as the season’s first snowfall reached the highest elevations of the southern Appalachians.

Meteorologist Nico Wells filmed the scene at around 9 a.m. Snow blows sideways past the historical marker for Elisha Mitchell, the scientist the mountain is named after, as dense fog hides the trees just a few meters away and gusts roar over the summit. Evergreens are frosted white, while shrubs and bare branches on the slopes are covered in thick, spiky rime ice, which forms when freezing fog sticks to surfaces. Snow dusts a wooden bench and the grass beside the wet paths. “Quite snowy on Mt. Mitchell this morning around 9am, with lots of rime ice accretion,” Wells wrote. The National Weather Service shared the footage as “a good burst of snow.”

At 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Its temperature was 29 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday morning, with a wind chill of 19 degrees, according to the weather service. Snow also fell above 5,000 feet along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where sustained winds of 36 mph were recorded near Licklog Ridge Overlook. A mix of snow and ice fell on Kuwohi, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, formerly known as Clingmans Dome, and a heavy dusting covered the roof of LeConte Lodge on Mount LeConte in Tennessee.

The early taste of winter came behind a strong cold front that sent temperatures tumbling across the Carolinas, with Saturday’s highs about 20 degrees cooler than on Friday, when much of North Carolina was still in shorts and short sleeves. The weather service issued a freeze warning for much of the North Carolina mountains early on Sunday, with lows in the upper 20s, cold enough to damage or kill sensitive plants. The snow came while fall colors were still on the trees, though forecasters said foliage above 5,000 feet was already past its peak.