Year: 2017

This is one of the coldest ends of a year that we’ve seen in many, many years. One thing that is a bit unusual for this cold spell is that we don’t have snow on the ground. Often, when we’re this cold for this long we have snow pack, which helps keep us colder. As we all know, snow is white. The color white is excellent at not absorbing radiation from the sun, which keeps things much cooler than they would otherwise be. That’s why you wear white instead of black in the summer. A lot of folks think that’s snow’s icy nature makes things colder, but it’s actually it’s color that is most efficient at sending the sun’s radiation back into space, keeping it from doing it’s job; warming us up.

The trend this week continues to look bitter cold and dry. The warmest day of the period will be Wednesday, when we will climb up to near the freezing mark, but I don’t think we’ll make it to freezing. Wednesday will be a bit warmer because we will be just ahead of yet another arctic front and winds will switch to the south for a bit. Then, those winds will turn to the north Wednesday evening and temps will once again plummet.

Looking ahead, Friday and Saturday will feature continued cold conditions and dry. We should finally climb into the low to mid 30s on Saturday. That will be our first opportunity to get above freezing since yesterday.

It looks like we will finally see a storm system move out of the Gulf and affect us as early as next Sunday. However, it looks as if temps will have warmed enough by then to give us mostly rain, our first precipitation event of the new year. We need it, as it’s starting to get a little dry.

Keep in mind that a wind chill advisory is in effect for tonight and Monday night. This means you could suffer hypothermia and frostbite in a short period of time. And remember the four Ps; people, pets, pipes, and proper heating. Check on those who may not be able to warm themselves, keep those outside fur babies in shelter and fresh water, protect your pipes, and ALWAYS use safe heating methods. There are always folks who lose their lives in these cold snaps due to carbon monoxide poisoning or from house fires.

You all stay safe and warm through this arctic blast! And have a very happy New Year’s Eve!

Isn’t that the saddest headline you’ve ever read? It pained me to type it. What in the world is there to gain from so much cold and nary a snowflake to show for it? We may see a snow flurry today as the arctic front moves through. That should happen this evening. We’re above freezing right now (34) but I doubt we climb more than a degree from here because of these clouds. It should be a cold, cloudy day. The arctic air oozes on in here on Sunday and by Sunday night the full effects will be felt as we drop to 5 degrees. Tuesday continues to look like the coldest morning of the forecast period, with many of us seeing zero-degree temperatures.

This air mass is super dry and the Gulf will be cut off. Therefore, no significant chances of precip exist. We will be brushed by some disturbances coming out of Canada this week, but that’s what we’ve had so far this winter and we all know how those went.

Once again, if you want wintry precip head south (insert a big ole ‘sigh’). Winter weather advisories are in effect for portions of the Deep South for tonight. Mississippi and Alabama could see a glaze of ice and dusting of snow tonight that could make roads slick.

Check out this weatherTAP temperature map. I added lines that show the freezing line and another one that shows the zero-degree line. The country is in an arctic blast and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. We’ll stay below freezing from Sunday to at least next Saturday, thanks to a reinforcing arctic blast coming Wednesday evening. We may briefly get to 33 degrees on Wednesday ahead of the arctic front, but I have a feeling pre-frontal cloud cover (like today) will keep us from climbing above freezing.

You all stay warm and bundled up! And make sure everyone you know is staying warm, especially the elderly and those who may not be able to care for themselves very well. Also make sure your outside fur babies are taken care of, with good shelter and fresh, unfrozen water.

We are on track to have the third coldest New Year’s in Tennessee’s history! If you plan on being out and about, make sure you bundle up! For those of you who will be out for any outdoor celebrations make sure you have all your extremities covered. And, if you consume alcohol remember that it only makes you feel warmer, which can be very deceiving with temps this cold.

As far as snow or ice chances go, it looks bleak, fellow snowbirds. I’m optimistically leaving a snow flurry on Saturday evening/night but don’t strain your eyes too hard looking for them. The forecast just looks cold and dry. This arctic blast has blasted all of our moisture wayyyy far south.  It’s going to be hard to even get a darn flurry in this dry air mass.

We’re no stranger to cold air this time of year, for sure. This air mass we have coming is a bit more potent than what we’re used to, though. Once temps go below freezing on Sunday, we should stay below freezing for at least 7 days straight. Another arctic front comes Wednesday, which will plunge us into yet another arctic freeze. It had looked like we may get snow Thursday, but now it looks like the Wednesday arctic blast may force any moisture well to our south again. I’ll keep an eye on it. Nashville’s record for staying below freezing is 9 days, and they may break that next week.

But, at least we’re not getting the lake effects now disaster that is occurring near Erie, Pennsylvania! They have broken all their snow records and have already gotten 100 inches of snow in some places for the month of December. A wxtap social media follower from there messaged me yesterday and said he saw a house burning and the fire department couldn’t get to it. The whole house just burned. Folks with medical emergencies can’t get to the hospital.  They’re used to heavy snow but nothing like this. Four to nine feet of snow has fallen, with another 10-20 inches coming tonight! They remain under a declared disaster emergency and will remain so through the weekend.

I want some snow but, Lord have mercy, I don’t want anything like that! (ha)

You all stay warm and have the best New Year! I appreciate you reading my weather blogs this past year, and I hope you enjoy all the ones to come in 2018! Hopefully, I’ll have some snow to write about sooner than later!

 

Whew! It’s cold outside, folks! Our weather station here at weatherTAP recorded an overnight low of 10 degrees at 4:51 a.m. We’ve climbed ALL THE WAY up to 15 degrees at 8:45.  We’re in the middle of an arctic blast that will have us in its grips for the next week to week and a half.

Notice that overnight low I’m forecasting for Monday night. It’s been a while since we’ve flirted with zero, but we’ll do just that by sunrise Tuesday. If you’re car battery is near death, I predict its ultimate demise Tuesday morning. And don’t do like me and let the car get low on gas just in time for the coldest temperatures (ha). Tomorrow would be a good day for getting things like that taken care of, before it gets even colder out.

We still have a chance for some flurries on Sunday, maybe some light snow. I’m thinking this arctic blast coming Saturday will shove all the moisture well to our south. Never the less, we could still see some flakes fly around. I don’t expect accumulation but I’ll keep watching it. The end of next week might be interesting for winter weather, though nothing looks certain at this point, for sure. I’ll keep an eye on it.

The big headline should be the bitter cold. Make sure your neighbors, especially the elderly, are staying warm. And make sure those outside fur babies are sheltered and have fresh water.

Once we drop below freezing on Saturday, we’ll stay below freezing until next Wednesday or Thursday, if we’re lucky. This is one heck of an arctic blast that’s coming Saturday.

I’ll leave you with these sunset pics I got this morning as I was headed out to work. It may have been freezing cold, but the sunrise made it tolerable.