Single Digit Windchills And Slick Roads

Friday Morning Forecast Update for January 7th:

**A detailed look at the roads with pictures below**

Snow totals varied around West Tennessee today with areas south of I-40 seeing a wintry mix and less then an inch of snow; while areas north of I-40 saw a widespread 1-3″ of snow. This morning, temperatures remained in the lower teens with windchills around 0 to 5 degrees.  Highs today will likely struggle to get out of the upper 20’s with a mix of clouds and sunshine. Southerly winds on Saturday will begin a warming trend to help melt the snow. Models are suggesting some heavy rain showers and possibly a few storms could return to the region Saturday night. Flooding could be a concern although the severe weather threat looks quite low. We will have a full recap of today’s snowstorm and more on your weekend forecast coming up right here.

THIS MORNING:

Starting off with cloudy skies and temperatures in the lower teens. Windchills will be in the single digits. Highs will only get to around 29 in the afternoon.  Temperatures are brutal this morning so bundle up! Lower to middle teens being observed throughout west Tennessee with windchills in the single digits!

AREA ROAD CONDITIONS:

As of 10:30 this morning, most secondary roads are still packed with snow and ice throughout the area. I traveled along Highland Avenue over towards Northside Highschool. North Highland still had plenty of dangerous areas of ice that extended into the lanes still. Plenty of opportunities that if someone on the other side of that hill is stopped for whatever reason, It would be hard to stop in time if rolling over ice! Remember folks, breaks don’t work well for sudden stops on snow packed or icy roads. You basically have to anticipate stopping well ahead of time. If you do have to use breaks, tap them slightly a few times until you are stopped and plan ahead of the stop! Watch other lanes carefully when coming to 4 way stops or red lights and remember, just because the light is green, in snow or ice, it doesn’t always mean go if someone is approaching in the other direction and ice is in the path.

Here are some other recent pictures taken from area weather cams. You can tell the difference in snow amounts and the road conditions will closely mirror. Higher totals to the north and mostly lower totals to the south and the result is that roads are worse to the north and slightly better south.

Roads will improve slowly today but as we drop below freezing again tonight (low around 18 degrees) there will be slick areas and black ice again in the morning. After we get through the late morning, roads will start to improve quickly as temperatures increase to around just under 50 degrees on Saturday afternoon.

Snow totals from around the area ranged from common reports of 2 inches or more south with 3, 4, and 5 inches to the north.

Snow totals continued…

TODAY:

Today will start out cold with morning lows in the mid teens and as the day goes on, highs will only reach the upper 20s or low 30s in the afternoon. Mostly sunny skies are expected  and the winds will be light out of the northeast.

Tonight the winds will start to shift out of the north to the south and that will try to start a warming trend but lows are still expected to be in the upper teens or low 20s Friday night.

THE WEEKEND:

Long range forecast models are hinting at a decent warm up coming the upcoming weekend so expect the snow to melt then. They are also hinting at chances for showers Saturday evening and some storms to return late Saturday into Sunday. As of now, severe weather is not expected as highs are only forecast to reach the 50s this weekend.

We will be keeping an eye on the weekend forecast though as the week progresses. Expect plenty of clouds and Sunday morning lows will be in the mid to upper 40s. Cold weather is expected to move back in Sunday night into Monday morning with lows falling back into the 20s. Next week will start out cool and dry but warm up as the week goes on.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Winter has officially started here in West Tennessee and we currently could see more rounds of winter precipitation in the coming weeks.  There could be more chances for severe weather though too as we get going into 2022 as well. So you need to stay weather aware to changing weather patterns and monitor the forecasts closely. We got you covered in the WBBJ 7 Storm Team Weather Center as always.

For tips on preparing for the storms, click here. To download the WBBJ 7 Weather app, click here.

Brian Davis
Storm Team 7 Meteorologist

Twitter – @Brian7wbbj
Facebook – Briandaviswbbj
Email – Badavis@wbbjtv.com