Arctic blast prompts road closures on Blue Ridge Parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains

Travel through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was halted and sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed early Tuesday, as an arctic blast brought hazardous road conditions to higher elevations along the Tennessee border.

U.S. 441 — the main highway through the Great Smoky Mountains — was closed late Monday as the cold front moved and snow started to fall. The highway connects Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to Cherokee, North Carolina.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was also closed south of the French Broad River, near Interstate 26, and north of Asheville near the Virginia state line, according to the National Park Service.

Two to four inches of snow were expected in the higher elevations along the state line, with about an inch in lower elevations, according to the National Weather Service.

Emergency management officials in Sevier County, Tennessee, which includes part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, posted on Facebook Tuesday that “roads continue to become snow covered” just east of the park.

“The snow will end later today but the temperatures will stay around the freezing mark. Roadways may develop icy conditions, especially on bridges, overpasses, and where culverts pass under the road,” Sevier County officials said.

The stark shift in weather is due to an incoming arctic air mass that will cause temperatures to tumble as much as 20 degrees Tuesday, forecasters say.

Winter weather advisories were issued for the North Carolina mountains, where the low was expected to be 16 overnight Tuesday and 20 on Wednesday.

“Gusty northwest winds up to 40 mph across the mountains and up to 30 mph elsewhere through this evening will make it feel much colder than the actual temperatures, especially tonight with temperatures dropping into the teens across the mountains,” the National Weather Service reported Tuesday.

“In fact, it will feel like the single digits across mountain valleys and teens east of the mountains by late this evening.”

Temperatures were expected to rise to 41 degrees in the mountains on Wednesday and 48 on Thursday, making it possible the roads could reopen in the next day.