Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Christmas Holiday 2023_High Knob Massif


During 1955-2022
(68 Years)

(Use Back Arrow To Return After Viewing Large Photos)
 
19 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Majestic Rime & Snow 
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

(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 
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

 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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

23 November 2023
High Knob Massif
Looking Into Big Cherry Lake Basin
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23 November 2023
Looking Across High Knob Massif
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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
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A general 4" to 5" of snow were estimated 
at upper elevations, above 3000 feet.

7 December 2023
Looking Into Big Cherry Lake Basin
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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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

12 December 2023
Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin
Gorgeous Sunset From High Knob Massif
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20 December 2023
Looking Across High Knob Lake Basin
Gorgeous Sunset From High Knob Massif
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Northern Hardwoods

Yellow Birch is one of my favorite trees.

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Yellow Birch-Maple-Cherry Woods
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

24 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Large Root System of Yellow Birch
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

24 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Yellow Birch Straddling Boulder 
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved


24 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Beautiful Yellow Birch
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved


16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Old And Large Yellow Birch
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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).


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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved

These logs which have now long ago 
disappeared are called Nursery logs.

Big Cherry Lake Wetland Valley
Yellow Birch Arched Over Former Log
Wayne Browning Photograph © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Birch With Atypical Shape
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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


16 December 2023
Canadian Hemlock & Yellow Birch
Big Cherry Lake Wetland Valley
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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. 


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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Curly (Sugar) Maple Stump
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Mixed-Mesophytic Northern Hardwoods
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Mixed-Mesophytic Northern Hardwoods
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia rangiferina)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Hemlock Varnish Polypore (Ganoderma tsugae)
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

24 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Large Polypores (Ganoderma spp.)
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Great Diversity On Rocks
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Great Diversity On Trees
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Great Diversity On Trees
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Great Diversity On Trees
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Oak Gall In Hole
Million To One Shot
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16 December 2023
High Knob Massif
Great Diversity On Soils
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24 December 2023
Christmas Eve Afternoon
Northern Slopes of High Knob Massif
Jessica Bier & Wayne Browning © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

(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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

This once again turned the high country
into a majestic winter wonderland.

2 January 2024
Snow-Rime Covered
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
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Northern hardwoods were majestically covered.

4 January 2024
High Knob Massif
Approaching Sunset
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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
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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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

January was wintry and reached 
a climax during mid-month.

16 January 2024
Beautiful Rime and Deep Snow
Eagle Knob of High Knob Massif
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
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Beautiful views of the snow covered mountain 
landscape were captured from the summit level.

23 January 2024
Landscape View from High Knob Massif
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23 January 2024
Landscape View from High Knob Massif
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23 January 2024
Looking to Roan Mountain on Horizon
Landscape View from High Knob Massif
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The month closed with additional accumulations 
of snow, rime, and ice at upper elevations.

29 January 2024
Elevation 4196 Feet
View from Eagle Knob
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January snowfall totals reached into 
the 30-36" range at upper elevations.

29 January 2024
Along Snowy State Route 619
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Total precipitation and snowfall 
were both above average.

31 January 2024
Late Afternoon View
High Knob Lookout Tower
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

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
Cody Blankenbecler Image © All Rights Reserved

 The decade-long snow drought continues!