Extreme Cold Will Continue Today And Tonight

WBBJ 7 Forecast Update:

A few snow flurries continue early Today with skies gradually clearing in the afternoon. The sunshine want make a big difference in the cold as windchills will remain mostly in the single digits all afternoon before dropping back to around 0 later tonight. Dry weather is ahead but it will remain very cold until late weekend, when temperatures will finally warm close to 50.  Catch the full forecast details coming up right here.

Windchills For Late Morning Thursday:

So far, the winds have been out of the north at 10 to 15 mph at times driving the windchills below zero and making for a dangerously cold situation. Be sure to limit time out in the cold and dress in multiple layers.  A warming trend will kick in towards the weekend but we still have tonight and tomorrow morning with the cold air dangers.

A quick update on snow amounts from earlier. Here is a look at the snow reports received from the NWS in Memphis.

Snow totals ranged between 1.5″ and 4″ across West Tennessee. The higher amounts were in the northwester counties and the lowest amounts were in our southeastern counties.

THIS WEEK:

The snow moved in during the late afternoon hours across the Mississippi River Tuesday before starting close to sunset in the Jackson area. The snow bands moved west to east and drop to the south as the evening went on. Everyone saw snow between 10pm and 2am in West Tennessee with totals ranging from 1-4″ for the most part.. The highest snow amounts were in our northern counties near Kentucky with the lowest amounts were near the Mississippi border. The wrapped up by the time the sun comes up on Wednesday for the most part. A few flurries showed back up in the afternoon as well.

Temperatures got cold quickly as the system moved in Tuesday night. Tuesday night lows fell down to around 20°. Wednesday highs were chilly and only reached the mid 20s but will fall all the way down to the upper single digits Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Clouds stuck around during the day but should break up a bit overnight into Thursday morning. The winds will stay out of the north until the weekend. The winds chill will be a big factor through Friday morning in West Tennessee.

Wind chill works by rapidly removing heat from your body through wind, making it feel significantly colder than the actual air temperature; as the wind blows, it disrupts the insulating layer of warm air around your body, causing a faster rate of heat loss from your skin, which can eventually lower your internal body temperature if exposed for a prolonged period. 

Thursday we should see some sunshine but it is going to be a VERY cold day! Highs will only reach the low 20s and we will start our day in the single digits and end our day back in the single digits to start our Friday. Friday highs will warm up a bit into the low to mid 30s and that could lead to a little bit of snow melting. Snow will be melting through this weekend for most of us. We still will see plenty of sunshine on Friday but some clouds will try to move back in this weekend keeping Friday night’s low up a bit around 20°.

THE WEEKEND:

Warmer weather will move back in for the weekend and that will allow for the snow to melt across the area. Highs will reach the mid to upper 40s this weekend. Saturday night will drop to the upper 20s and Sunday night might even stay a few degrees above freezing. We could be back up closer to 60° on Monday of next week. We will see partly cloudy skies this weekend due to the slight increase in humidity and a return of the west and southwest winds. The winds will stay out of the southwest to kick off next week!

Brian Davis
Storm Team 7 Meteorologist
Twitter – @Brian7wbbj
Facebook – Briandaviswbbj
Email – Badavis@wbbjtv.com