The High Knob Landform: 2023

History Of Christmas Holidays

During 1955-2022

(68 Years)

(Use Back Arrow To Return After Viewing Large Photos)

19 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Majestic Rime & Snow

(Wayne Browning Image Captures)

A beautiful array of wind driven snow and gorgeous rime decorated the high country of the High Knob Massif during 18-19 December in 2023.

19 December 2023

High Knob Lookout Tower

Light snow and rime accumulated at highest elevations early on 18 December, with wind driven snow and squalls developing during the afternoon-evening hours.

18 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Lull In Snowfall And Rime Formation

A general 1" to 4" of snow accumulated across Wise and Dickenson counties, with locally deeper depths at highest elevations in the High Knob Massif.

19 December 2023

Wind Driven Snow-Rime on Eagle Knob

Temperatures in high basins from Big Cherry Lake to Burkes Garden and Canaan Valley plunged into single digits above and below zero into morning hours of

20 December 2023.

Unfortunately, for lovers of white Christmases, these winter wonderland conditions were destined to be short-lived with much warmer weather into the Christmas Holiday.

Polar Vortex Explanation Video

There are very good indications that a change

back to winter will occur after the Christmas Holiday, into January 2024, as disturbances influence the Polar Vortex.

Early Season Highlights 2023

The first flakes of snow fell during October, with the first sticking snow and nice rime formation occurring on 22-23 November 2023.

23 November 2023

High Knob Peak of Massif

Light Snow and Rime Formation

23 November 2023

High Knob Massif

Looking Into Big Cherry Lake Basin

23 November 2023

Looking Across High Knob Massif

Additional light snow accumulations and rime

formation were observed on 28-29 November,

with air temperatures plunging to 6 degrees in

the Big Cherry Valley.

The first substantial fall of snow blanketed

the high country during 4-6 December 2023.

7 December 2023

Significant Snowfall and Rime

A general 4" to 5" of snow were estimated

at upper elevations, above 3000 feet.

7 December 2023

Looking Into Big Cherry Lake Basin

A general 1" to 3" of snow depth remained on northern slopes along wetland valleys of Big Cherry Lake during afternoon hours of 8 December 2023.

A light fall of snow and rime coated highest elevations during 10-11 December as cold air rushed into the mountain area in wake of the first significant rainfall event since early Autumn 2023.

12 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Light Snow and Riming Event

12 December 2023

Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin

Gorgeous Sunset From High Knob Massif

20 December 2023

Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin

Gorgeous Sunset From High Knob Massif

Northern Hardwoods

Yellow Birch is one of my favorite trees.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Yellow Birch-Maple-Cherry Woods

Portions of the High Knob Massif possess a significant Yellow Birch component, including a few very large, old growth trees, which illustrate what these high elevation (mixed-mesophytic) northern woods were like prior to widespread logging and clear cutting.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Old Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

Numerous existing trees have simply amazing root

systems which have embraced cliffs and boulders.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Huge Yellow Birch Root Across Boulders

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Large Root System of Yellow Birch

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Yellow Birch Straddling Boulder

These trees grow at highest elevations and in cold air collecting (pooling and draining) basins such as those holding Big Cherry Lake, High Knob Lake, Bark Camp Lake, and the Norton Reservoirs.

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

While most Yellow Birch trees live in upper elevations (above 3000 feet), some are able to live at elevations below 2000 feet in cold air drainages which act to funnel (drain) cold air from upper elevations into low elevations.

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Beautiful Yellow Birch

Yellow Birch possesses highly variable,

beautiful bark that changes with tree age,

genetics, and site conditions.

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Beautiful Yellow Birch

Yellow Birch

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Beautiful Yellow Birch

Progress In Birch Genetics

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Old And Large Yellow Birch

These high elevation birches grow within distinctive microclimates characterized by cool summers, cold winters, and abundant annual precipitation (this includes fog drip and rime deposition-drop from the trees themselves).

Virginia Distribution

Yellow Birches in middle to lower elevations generally

live within cold air drainages characterized by a finger of mixed-mesophytic northern hardwoods associated with cool mean temperatures and abundant moisture.

Yellow Birch occurs in Dickenson County but is not common and widespread like it is across the High Knob Massif and highest elevations of adjacent Black Mountain.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Old Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

They help support an array of northern bird

species which breed here in the warm season,

and like these birds are characteristic of places

with northern attributes.

Many of these bird species naturally breed in

Canada, the Great Lakes, and New England;

otherwise, they tend to live only at highest

elevations along the Appalachians.

A few which I have officially documented include:

Blackburnian Warbler

(Setophaga fusca)

Black-throated Blue Warbler

(Setophaga caerulescens)

Black-throated Green Warbler

(Setophaga virens)

Brown Creeper

(Certhia americana)

Canada Warbler

(Cardellina canadensis)

Chestnut-sided Warbler

(Setophaga pensylvanica)

Dark-eyed Junco

(Junco hyemalis)

Hermit Thrush

(Catharus guttatus)

Least Flycatcher

(Empidonax minimus)

Magnolia Warbler

(Setophaga magnolia)

Red-breasted Nuthatch

(Sitta canadensis)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

(Pheucticus ludovicianus)

Veery

(Catharus fuscescens)

Winter Wren

(Troglodytes hiemalis)

*While some of these birds can be found at lower elevations, it is this composite mixture which makes

the high country environment unique to these species.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Birch Root Inside Old Stump

Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

Some birches have roots growing

inside stumps and above ground level,

while others stand arched above logs

which have long ago rotted away.

Big Cherry Lake Wetland Valley

Yellow Birch Arched Over Former Log

These logs which have now long ago

disappeared are called Nursery logs.

Big Cherry Lake Wetland Valley

Yellow Birch Arched Over Former Log

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif
Birch With Atypical Shape

Far to the north, in the Adirondacks, Yellow Birch becomes uncommon above 3000 feet.

Trees of the Adirondacks

16 December 2023

Canadian Hemlock & Yellow Birch

Big Cherry Lake Wetland Valley

Yellow Birches are abundant along wetland valleys in the basin of Big Cherry Lake where night-time temps are among the coldest in Virginia and the southern Appalachians.

16 December 2023

Elevation 3200 feet

High Elevation Wetland Valley

Yellow Birch grows with Black Cherry, Sugar Maple, American Beech, Northern Red Oak, and many other species on this special mountain.

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

A high component of Black Cherry was one reason woods here were classified as being of the Central Appalachian Northern Hardwoods type by the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage.

Northern Hardwood Forests

The High Knob Massif also possesses areas with

a Yellow Buckeye (Aesculus flava) component.

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Old Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Curly bark on any tree makes excellent habitat for bats, and many other species, with aging trees often developing this characteristic.

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum)

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Curly (Sugar) Maple Stump

A great diversity of life, including lesser known liverworts, hornworts, mosses, lichens, and fungi are present in abundance and visible even during the season of cold.

16 Deember 2023

High Knob Massif

Mixed-Mesophytic Northern Hardwoods

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Mixed-Mesophytic Northern Hardwoods

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Mixed-Mesophytic Northern Hardwoods

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia rangiferina)

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Hemlock Varnish Polypore (Ganoderma tsugae)

24 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Large Polypores (Ganoderma spp.)

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Great Diversity On Rocks

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Great Diversity On Trees

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Great Diversity On Trees

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Great Diversity On Trees

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Oak Gall In Hole

Million To One Shot

16 December 2023

High Knob Massif

Great Diversity On Soils

24 December 2023

Christmas Eve Afternoon

Northern Slopes of High Knob Massif

Christmas 2023 will enter the record books as being devoid of snow. Only icy patches remained by afternoon hours of Christmas Eve (*).

*A few isolated snow drifts may have survived from those observed on 23 December, when 1" generally covered the highest northern slopes of the High Knob Massif, but no white Christmas was reported for any location along the central-southern Appalachians south of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border in 2023.

December-January 2024

Additional Snowfall-Rime Events

1 January 2024

High Knob Massif Snow-Rime

Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin

(Wayne Browning Image Captures)

Several inches of snow-rime covered the high country of the High Knob Massif to close out December and open the New Year.

2 January 2024

High Knob Lookout

Significant Rime Across High Knob Massif

This once again turned the high country

into a majestic winter wonderland.

2 January 2024

Snow-Rime Covered

Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif

This event made approximately 14.0" of total snowfall so far during this young 2023-24

season (far below the longer term average).

2 January 2024

Rime-Snow Covered

High Knob Lake Basin

Following another minor NW flow event into early Thursday (4 January 2024), a much more active pattern is expected to take shape from this weekend into the next few weeks.

2 January 2024

Rime-Snow Covered

Looking Into Big Cherry Lake Basin

This will be good news for depleted water supply lakes like Appalachia Lake along the northwestern arm of the High Knob Massif.

2 January 2024

Eagle Knob to High Knob Peak

My friend Mark Quillin, Superintendent of Appalachia Lake, reports that the lake level is the lowest on record (24 feet and 3 inches below the spillway). Appalachia Lake is located at 2360 feet elevation on the other side of Stonega Peak of

Little Stone Mountain.

2 January 2024

High Knob Massif

FAA Radar Dome on Horizon

Looking West To Black Mountain

Little Stone Mountain is the middle, brown looking, mountain with peaks in the above image. It is part of the geological northwestern flank of the High Knob Massif-Landform.

2 January 2024

High Knob Massif

Looking Across Head of Clear Creek Basin

Appalachia Lake had 40.53" of total precipitation during 2023, the least on record since observations started in 1985.

Mean precipitation for the past 10-years was 57.00", with 56.44" on average since 1985 (significantly less than Big Cherry Lake, in the adjacent high country, but much more than the 43.50" state average for Virginia since 1900).

The mean for the previous 5 years

at Appalachia Lake Water Plant

was 60.09" .

2 January 2024

Looking East Across High Knob Massif

My friend Andrew Greear, Superintendent of the City of Norton Water Plant, reported 43.65" of total precipitation during 2023 (the third driest year on record since 1983).

This was way below the 67.09" average

observed during the previous 5 years.

My friend Gary Hampton, Director of Utilities for the Town of Big Stone Gap, reported 47.72" of total precipitation during 2023. This again way below the 69.00" average observed there during the previous 5 years (*).

*These hand-measured precipitation totals were from the mouth of South Fork of Powell River Gorge, downstream of Big Cherry Lake dam.

The 5-year precipitation mean (2018-2022), by

comparison, at Big Cherry Lake Dam was 80.01" .

4 January 2024

Afternoon Rime

High Knob Peak

Additional rime formation occurred with light snow into morning hours of 4 January during a brief period of NW upslope flow.

4 January 2024

Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin

Some 22 days with rime formation have been observed so far at highest elevations during this cold season (as of 4 January).

4 January 2024

Rimed Northern Hardwoods

Northern Slopes of High Knob Massif

Northern hardwoods were majestically covered.

4 January 2024

High Knob Massif

Approaching Sunset

Another gorgeous sunset was observed

as a few mountain wave clouds lingered

above the snow-rime covered massif.

4 January 2024

High Knob Massif

Sunset Above The High Knob Peak

Rain changed to snow with a general 2-3"

at upper elevations during 7-8 January 2024.

8 January 2024

High Knob Massif

Looking At High Knob Lookout

This increased the number of days with 1" or more of snow depth to 21 for upper northern slopes (this season) in the High Knob Massif.

8 January 2024

Gorgeous Riming and Snow

High Knob Lake-Big Cherry Lake Basins

January was wintry and reached

a climax during mid-month.

16 January 2024

Beautiful Rime and Deep Snow

Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif

Snow depths peaked around January 20-21 and varied from 8" at the City of Norton Water Plant (on the northern base of the massif) to 1-2 feet at highest elevations.

21 January 2024

High Knob Massif

Deep Snow on Eagle Knob

Beautiful views of the snow covered mountain

landscape were captured from the summit level.

23 January 2024

Landscape View from High Knob Massif

23 January 2024

Landscape View from High Knob Massif

23 January 2024

Looking to Roan Mountain on Horizon

Landscape View from High Knob Massif

The month closed with additional accumulations

of snow, rime, and ice at upper elevations.

29 January 2024

Elevation 4196 Feet

View from Eagle Knob

January snowfall totals reached into

the 30-36" range at upper elevations.

29 January 2024

Along Snowy State Route 619

Total precipitation and snowfall

were both above average.

31 January 2024

Late Afternoon View

High Knob Lookout Tower

But this marked the only month during the 2023-24 season to feature above average snowfall.

31 January 2024

Late Afternoon View of Basins

Heads of High Knob Lake-Big Cherry Lake

The decade-long snow drought continues!

The High Knob Landform

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Christmas Holiday 2023_High Knob Massif

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Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Christmas Holiday 2023_High Knob Massif

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