Here’s a couple photos I snapped this morning on my post office run in Waynesville, NC. We’ve had the first real snowfall of the winter season, though you’d better enjoy these pictures now – it will all be gone tomorrow and temps will be near 70 early in the week. It’s hardly an end to motorcycle riding season in the Smoky Mountains.

The first snow storm always causes excitement. Most of this white stuff will be gone by this afternoon.

It’s the extremes that get all the publicity and it may give the false impression the winters are harsh and enduring here in the Smokies. Temperatures fluctuate throughout the season with alternating cold and warm spells. By the middle of the week, temps will be near 70 again and this will all be forgotten. Halfway between the balmy south and the frigid north, the blue ridge mountains live in the in-between zone. Sometimes the northern weather drifts south, but it soon gets pushed back by the warm winds from the south.

Most of this will be gone by this afternoon and the warm weather will return early in the week.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is closed of course, but that’s no real handicap to finding places to ride. With the leaves off the trees it’s a whole different world and you see the things that are hidden during the summer months. Even during February and March you can find those days warm enough to get out and enjoy a nice spin on the motorcycle. So enjoy these snow photos now. In a few days it will be forgotten.

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