Ice Storm to Impact West Tennessee in a Few Waves!
Monday Night Forecast Update
Monday Night Forecast Update for January 30th:
The line where the rain is turning over to freezing rain is sitting from the northern Madison county border running diagonal down to Memphis. That line will slowly move southward tonight as the cold air drops in from the north. The freezing rain should start around 10pm in Jackson and continue until sunrise. A wide spread 1/4″ of ice is coming tonight and some locations north of Jackson could see close to 1/2″ of ice.
The first round of freezing rain will impact West Tennessee tonight until 7AM Tuesday. A second wave will come through between Tuesday 2PM and 4AM Wednesday morning. A third potential wave could come through starting at 3PM on Wednesday. Right now, Thursday is looking like mostly a cold rain. There is a chance for a 4th wave on Thursday as well if temperatures are just a couple degrees cooler than we think. This could potentially become a crippling storm across the Mid South so please take all warning and advisories from local authorities seriously. We will have the latest forecast information as well as school and business closing coming up here.
TONIGHT:
Freezing rain will cross the Mississippi River after 7PM and spread to the east this evening. Likely coming through Jackson between 9-10pm and lasting until the mid morning on Tuesday. Temperatures tonight will fall down to the upper 20s and the winds will be light out of the north. Total Ice Accumulations tonight could be close to 1/4″ along the I-40 corridor.
TUESDAY:
Freezing rain will be likely early in the morning but will move out from the mid morning until around 2pm when the next round of freezing rain will target West Tennessee. Another 1/4″ of ice will be possible in some locations. Highs on Tuesday with only reach the low to mid 30s and overnight lows will fall down to the mid to upper 20s. The freezing rain should clear out in the early morning hours before sunrise. The winds will be a bit breezy and come out of the north making it feel even cooler.
WEDNESDAY:
The second push of freezing rain should clear out before sunrise but a third push will look to impact West Tennessee After 3PM Wednesday. Temperatures could be just warm enough that some of this precipitation could fall as rain and not freezing rain or ice but it is going to be close. Highs on Wednesday will reach the mid to upper 30s and overnight lows should fall down near freezing again. The rain will continue overnight into the day on Thursday. The winds will be light and come out of the northeast most of the day.
THURSDAY:
Rain showers are likely on Thursday and depending on the timing of the showers, a wintry mix or ice could try to fall at times again. Most of the precipitation on Thursday is forecast to be rain because high temperatures will reach the upper 30s and hang there for most of the day. There is a chance before the showers move out Thursday night that another round of ice or snow could develop as Thursday night lows are expected to drop down to around 30° by Friday morning. But we are likely only to fall below freezing once the rain clears out, but it will be close. The winds will be light and stay out of the north on Thursday.
FRIDAY:
The sun will return on Friday but the temperatures will remain chilly. We will start out around 30° and reach up to around 40° in the afternoon. The reason we will not warm up much is because the winds are going to stay out of the north on the back side of the system. Friday night lows will dip into the upper 20s.
THE WEEKEND:
As of now the weekend looks dry across West Tennessee. We should see mostly cloudy skies on Saturday as southeast winds will return but that will also help us warm up to around 50° into the afternoon. Saturday night lows will drop into the mid to upper 30s and we should finally warm back up above normal on Sunday with highs reaching the mid 50s. Sunday night lows will fall down to around 40°. Expect partly cloudy skies on Sunday and the winds will come out of the southwest.
FINAL THOUGHT:
After the coldest Christmas in decades here in West Tennessee, warmer weather returned for the start of the new year, but some cooler weather will move in to wrap up the month and stick around into February. The next winter storm is coming this week. Ice accumulations will be likely so please travel smart and listen to local authorities for more information. 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.
Storm Team Chief Meteorologist
Joel Barnes
Facebook: @JoelBarnesWeather
Twitter: @JoelBarnes13
Instagram: @joelbarnes13
