dwagner88

19 hours ago, TellicoWx said:

I live in Tellico Plains and member of the fire dept...we have been having meetings with EMA and Forest Service. For anyone planning on going up the Skyway, the Forest Service as of right will close most of the areas mentioned (Buck Bald, Stratton Meadows, Wauchessi, so on) on Eclipse day, also no parking will be allowed anywhere up the mountain. My advice is stay away from that area. 

What on earth is the reasoning for this? Why would they close off one of the best viewing areas in the country?

I'm going to try to get to the top of the Cherohala Skyway. It's at 5400 ft, so heat won't be an issue, but cloud cover might be. There are several balds in the area that would make great vantage points. 

Dwag!  You gonna go chasing on the Skyway again this winter?  Good to see you posting man.

If I get a chance I will. I'm now an employee for TDOT, and my jurisdiction includes Mcminn, Bradley, and Polk counties, so I won't get much opportunity to work in Monroe. Polk has some good mountains for chasing, but none of the roads are paved. Right now I'm working on stabilizing a rock slide in the Ocoee gorge.

Maybe we can make it through a winter event here without having to hear about CAD!

As did the latest CNN interview I saw. Leading them into the answer by asking if they heard, "any alarms before the tornado hit." I appreciate the hell on Earth they just went through, but Ringgold, GA was struck hours into the event. I don't understand how this could take people by surprise, to the point that they were outside when the tornado hit and they only ran inside when they saw a neighbor's roof come off.

It is worth mentioning that power was out all day over this entire area. The older portable Tvs don't work anymore, and only one chattanooga radio station broke coverage for warnings. So basically if you didn't have a battery powered weather radio, you would not have known a thing. I live a couple of miles north of ringgold and west of Apison, and I had no clue what was going on because the batteries in my weather radio were dead.