"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Note the difference between "smoke" and "fog."

It's not quite as difficult as the difference between "diplomacy" and
"coercion."



Jeff Rigby wrote:
No, I'm told by a Forest ranger that it was smoke.

Dang, he must be the oldest living forest ranger... 200 years?!? He must
be building up a heck of a retirement...

... Certain times of the
year you do get fog

yep, about 11 1/2 months

... but there were fires that slowly burned (natural,
promoted by the pine trees for their germination) that caused SMOKE for
months. It's a combination of wind currents that keep the smoke in that
area (trapped).


Of course, that must be it... lots and lots of slow burning fires...
that happens far more often than simple common clouds intercepted by the
mountain slopes...

DSK
Gesh, Great Smoky Mountains not foggy mountains, or is it always assumed
that descriptions are not literal. Lightning created fires are very common
and once started burn for months until an external event like rain puts them
out and even then if it's not a large enough downpoor it can start up again.
It's so common that the trees have incorporated the event into it's
reproductive cycle and some can't germinate without a fire. To incorporate
something like that into your reproductive cycle takes 100K plus years of
CONSISTENT FIRE.