Climate of The Plateau vs Cookeville (Crossville, Monterey: motel, to live, legal)

[countrymanl67]

Hello all. We moved just outside of Monterey last December. Beautiful and affordable area to live. It is quite spectacular for an outdoors man such as myself. My only concern is the winters on the plateau. I left Wisconsin to escape brutal winters. This winter has been perfect and I know it's been very mild. But people from Cookeville are making me nervous. Now, they might be exaggerating but here are some of the things I've heard... "It can be 50 degrees and raining in Cookeville and 20 with several inches of snow on the plateau." "It can drop to -20 and has even been down to -31." "You'll want 4wd up there with all that snow."

So, I'm looking for a realistic perspective. Does that little 900 foot jump really make the plateau that much more severe in the winter?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by countrymanl67

Hello all. We moved just outside of Monterey last December. Beautiful and affordable area to live. It is quite spectacular for an outdoors man such as myself. My only concern is the winters on the plateau. I left Wisconsin to escape brutal winters. This winter has been perfect and I know it's been very mild. But people from Cookeville are making me nervous. Now, they might be exaggerating but here are some of the things I've heard... "It can be 50 degrees and raining in Cookeville and 20 with several inches of snow on the plateau." "It can drop to -20 and has even been down to -31." "You'll want 4wd up there with all that snow."

So, I'm looking for a realistic perspective. Does that little 900 foot jump really make the plateau that much more severe in the winter?

They were exaggerating a bit, but it is amazing the difference between Monterey and Cookeville. On average, Cookeville receives 7 inches of snow per year, but Monterey averages 17 inches of snow per year. There are several times during the year when it'll be cold and raining in Cookeville but snowing in Monterey.

As far as temperature extremes, it's rarely more than 5 or so degrees cooler in Monterey than it is in Cookeville. I don't remember it ever being 30 degrees colder in Monterey than in Cookeville, and I can't find any evidence of that on any weather tracker web sites. I think someone was either pulling your leg or was grossly exaggerating. But yes, those 5 degrees can and do often make a difference between rain and snow, even with just a 900 foot difference in elevation.

[loonyrich]

What JMT said exactly

[Chas863]

I heard that a guy in Crossville walked out to his mailbox last week without his arctic parka and snow bibs on and froze to death before he could get back inside the house.

[2mares]

They were exaggerating a bit, but it is amazing the difference between Monterey and Cookeville.

This^^^
You will seldom need 4WD. Snows usually dont last a day or maybe two.
But yes it can be clear in Cookeville and snowing in Monterey. It can be clear in Monterey and snowing just outside of Monterey. There is a stretch between Crossville and Monterey I like to call the twilight zone. You can also see this twilight zone 1 at a distance between Cookeville and Monterey.

When I was at TTU, many moons ago, I had a professor from Monterey who new I lived in Monterey and anytime I was late for his class he would call me out and ask if it was snowing on the mountain.

[countrymanl67]

Thanks for the info. JMT, I just looked on wunderground and it seems the biggest spread is the daytime highs. It's about 5 degrees like you said. The lows don't seem to differ much though. Actually, sometimes a hair warmer on the plateau. Like last night was 31 on the plateau and 30 in the valley. Seems like on clear calm nights is when it's colder in the valley.

[exit82]

"It can drop to -20 and has even been down to -31." "You'll want 4wd up there with all that snow."

Someone was definitely trying to thin the herd.

[2mares]

Originally Posted by exit82

"It can drop to -20 and has even been down to -31." "You'll want 4wd up there with all that snow."

Someone was definitely trying to thin the herd.

The coldest I personally remember was about -5 and this was many years ago when it actually snowed here. I know it has been colder but I just dont remember it.

[Chas863]

The temperature differences between Cookeville and Crossville (which is on the plateau) was evident today as I drove eastward along I-40 returning to Crossville from Nashville.


As I drove eastward past the Cookeville exits on I-40 around 11:30 AM today (a nice sunny, summer day) the outside temperature indicated on my car's thermometer was a steady 89 degrees. As I started up the incline going up on the plateau, I noticed that the temperature dropped to 87 degrees about half way up.


I told my wife that the temperature would likely drop another couple of degrees when we got on top. Sure enough, after we got a couple of miles onto the plateau, the temperature dropped to 85 degrees. As I continued to drive to Crossville and on over to the Lake Tansi area south of Crossville, the temperature dropped to 84 degrees.


This shows that today which was a nice, sunny summer day, the temperature was 4 to 5 degrees cooler in mid-day in the Crossville area than in the Cookeville area according to the measurements on the very same thermometer.


By the way, it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to drive from a motel near the Nashville airport to the main Cookeville exits on I-40 (sorry that I don't recall the exit numbers). It took another 35 minutes to get to the main Crossville exits on I-40. I was driving at the maximum legal speed plus a little more most of the time.


Just thought that some people might be interested in this data.

[John Ranallo]

The cooler temps is one of the reasons we chose the plateau to live. It is noticeable. Theses last few days have been beautiful, 60s at night and 70s during the day.