Winter Storm Watch for East Tennessee & N. Georgia

The National Weather Service in Morristown, Tennessee has issued a Winter Storm Watch for much of East Tennessee for Thursday night and Friday.

...WINTER STORM EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS LATE
THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH SIGNIFICANT ICING
POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF THE EAST TENNESSEE VALLEY...

.A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL IMPACT THE EAST TENNESSEE VALLEY AND
SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS LATE THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY. THE
COMBINATION OF SUBFREEZING SURFACE TEMPERATURES AND ABUNDANT GULF
MOISTURE WILL RESULT IN A LONG DURATION SNOW AND ICE EVENT FOR THE
ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE INTO THE CUMBERLAND
PLATEAU AND SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE LATE THURSDAY NIGHT...AND BECOME
HEAVIER AT TIMES AFTER SUNRISE ON FRIDAY AS IT OVERSPREADS THE
ENTIRE REGION FROM WEST TO EAST. WITH TEMPERATURES ALOFT REMAINING
ABOVE FREEZING FOR MOST OF THE EVENT ACROSS THE EAST TENNESSEE
VALLEY...A LONG DURATION FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET EVENT IS
ANTICIPATED...WITH WIDESPREAD ACCUMULATIONS BETWEEN ONE TENTH TO
ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH OF ICE POSSIBLE. FURTHER TO THE NORTH ACROSS
NORTHEAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ...COLDER AIR WILL BE IN
PLACE WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR AN ALL SNOW EVENT...WITH THE POSSIBILITY
OF SOME SLEET MIXING IN AS WELL IN AREAS THAT APPROACH THE FREEZING
MARK LATER IN THE AFTERNOON. PRECIPITATION WILL GRADUALLY BEGIN TO
TAPER OFF LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

There is a chance that parts of North Alabama and Middle Tennessee could be under either a Winter Storm Watch, Freezing Rain Advisory, or a Winter Weather Advisory Thursday night into Friday for spotty areas of freezing rain.

Here’s the chance of at least 0.01″ (enough to count) of freezing rain Thursday night through Friday morning in the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama & Southern Middle Tennessee.

Think of this as a “rain chance” with a specific idea behind it. Instead of it being the chance of raindrops falling, this is that chance describing how when rain is falling how likely that rain is to freeze to an exposed surface. The most likely scenario is some light freezing rain or freezing drizzle in mainly Lawrence, Giles, Lincoln, Moore, Franklin and Marion Counties in Southern Tennessee and in isolated areas of northern Madison, Limestone, Jackson and DeKalb Counties in Northeast Alabama.

We do not expect a shut-down ice storm; this will be a minor issue and a short-lived one as temperatures will rise above freezing by midday Friday.

-Jason
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