Significant Snow Possible Friday

Temperatures continue to remain steady tonight across West Tennessee with winds in the upper part of the atmosphere coming out of the southwest. This will keep the temperatures from falling too far tonight, but we may still be close to the freezing mark in the morning. Some slick spots will be possible in northwest Tennessee where 1″ to 2″ of snow and ice accumulated from last night into this morning. Otherwise, it will be a dry, cloudy, and calm night for most of West Tennessee.

We’ll start to see rain return to the region during the later hours of the morning, through the afternoon and evening, as showers generally advance from south to north across West Tennessee. We may see some freezing rain and sleet fall with some of the showers that will be falling in northwest Tennessee – especially after midnight.

After that, rain and ice will change to snow after sunrise on Friday morning. Some snow accumulations could be significant – over 3″. A tenth of an inch of ice will be possible in areas near the Tennessee -Kentucky border. However, the band of darker blue (in the image below) that indicates higher amounts of snow may need to be adjusted to move farther west, giving a better chance for more significant accumulation in the western-most counties of West Tennessee. Our current forecast for 3″-7″ in that band may need to be lowered if current forecast trends hold.

Temperatures will continue to drop throughout the day on Friday ultimately resulting in wind chills in the teens on Friday night. Any snow that accumulates on tree branches could cause them to break under strong wind gusts, so scattered power outages will be possible on Friday night too.Stay tuned to the latest forecast from the VIPIR 7 Storm Team for the latest updates!