Winter storm: how bad did TN get hit with it? (Knoxville: power lines, house)

[joe_obody999]

How bad did Tennessee get hit with snow from this recent winter storm? I live in northern MN and we got dumped with over 3 feet of heavy wet snow over several days, quite the mess up here. TN is on my list of possible places to move to, as I can not take any more of the snow and cold up here. So I am just curious how bad TN got dumped with snow if any, or ice, etc.? How bad in general are the winters in TN in terms of having to shovel snow, slip on ice, etc?

[Bones]

It's 68* and a beautiful day.....clouds have rolled into the central TN area and about to start raining...

Next several days will be a little different....

4:44am today

... Wintry mix across middle Tennessee this weekend...

A winter storm is expected to arrive tomorrow affecting mainly
areas over northwestern middle Tennessee. However locations all
along the I-65 corridor including the Nashville Metro area will
still have a chance to see a wintry mix mainly Friday afternoon and
evening and again Saturday night.

A cold front will affect middle Tennessee today and tomorrow,
bringing with it ample rainfall. With an Arctic air mass ushering
in sub-freezing temperatures behind the front on Friday, any rain
could change over to a wintry mix Friday afternoon into Friday
night. It appears as though rain would change over to a freezing
rain or sleet mix in the Metro Nashville area and northern I-65
corridor after 6 PM Friday. Light ice or sleet accumulations will be
possible across all of central middle Tennessee after the
changeover occurs. Light ice accumulations on trees and
power lines, or sleet accumulations on roadways could cause power
outages as well as hazardous travel conditions Friday night.

[joe_obody999]

Plow just came by my street, buried my sidewalk with about 5 feet of snow pushed up off the streets. 3-4 feet of wet heavy snow up here, brutal and so early in the season (snow does not melt off mall parking lots here until mid May). I need to find a place with mild almost no winter (=shoveling), I just need to research if I could handle the heat index / humidity down in TN although oddly we get some pretty hot humid periods in summer up here though surely nothing like TN. Another think about TN i need to research that concerns me is poisonous spiders and snakes, yikes; i never worry about that up here, but I am kind of worried of walking through brush or whatever in TN and getting bitten by a black widow or poisonous snake; we just do not have that up here, too cold, except for rare bites from recluse spiders but I have lived my whole live mostly in Minnesota and never seen a poisonous snake or spider and in 40 years have never even seen a snake even with lots of hiking in the woods.

[hiknapster]

What winter storm? We don't get winter storms. We got a dusting a week or two ago. It immediately melted. It will be cold over here this weekend. By cold, I mean 46 will be the high for both days. Not exactly MN cold. Right now it is 73 in Knoxville. Oh, and it will rain. No snow.

There are some pretty distinct weather patterns in TN.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

What winter storm? We don't get winter storms. We got a dusting a week or two ago. It immediately melted. It will be cold over here this weekend. By cold, I mean 46 will be the high for both days. Not exactly MN cold. Right now it is 73 in Knoxville. Oh, and it will rain. No snow. There are some pretty distinct weather patterns in TN.

How long is winter (=shoveling!) as one moves up in mountains with pine trees (which might feel more at home for me coming from northern MN)? I am just so TIRED of shoveling and winter here that lasts SIX MONTHS; but i do like pine trees, would love to build a dome home on a piece of land with pine trees, or at least lots of trees of some sort, but I suppose a dome home might not sit right in a hot humid state?

[NY Annie]

We moved from NYC 14 months ago. This will be our 2nd "winter" here. We have no snow shovel - after being used to shovel snow 4+ inches deep most of the winter with occasional 4+ FEET. We also have no "ice melt" - don't need it. Wait an hour or so after sunrise and any frost, ice, crust will be gone as in g.o.n.e. I did pick up a small ice scraper - around here they call them pop-top can openers - they work very well on the sideview mirrors. We are in the woods in sw TN - there is nothing but trees to see and the few neighbors we have are not within shouting distance although we do have the occasional hunter sounds: guns and 4-wheelers.

For some reason, people think this area is hot and humid - if you've ever spent a summer in NY or NJ, then you would not consider a summer here as being humid.

I am just now considering getting out some winter clothes as the lows in the next 3 days are expected to get below freezing. I never opened the plastic bin with my winter clothes last year and it would be nice to just leave those clothes right where they are. My shorts finally got almost all put away at the end of October - luckily I kept a few pair out because I really needed them in the days before Thanksgiving. Long sleeve shirts, so long as they are not super heavy, work for most of the "winter" season.

Looking for the woods like you have in MN - similar to WI where my stepson lives - you'll find it here and not only up in the mountains. SW TN is mostly aggie or woods - very undeveloped. I don't see why a dome home wouldn't sit right around here but it would be pretty rare.

Oh, and I still haven't worn my brand-new, hanging in the closet winter coat that I got at the end of the season 2 winters ago.

[keithps]

Over here in southeast TN, we're planning on getting a lot of rain and not much else. Chattanooga probably gets less snow than just about anywhere in TN due to the unique topography of the area. The only way Chattanooga gets snow is if a system moves in from the south at the same time as a cold front from the north, and the timing has to be just right. That combination exists currently, but the timing of the cold front is wrong, so instead of snow, we get rain.

[alleycat]

I had my air-conditioning on last night. It was 71 in Nashville this morning. It's just been rainy today.

The cold front is supposed to come in to Middle Tennessee starting late afternoon tomorrow. They are predicting that the worst of it will be northwest of Nashville. Nashville might gets some sleet and 1/4" of snow (maybe). Kentucky will probably get more bad weather than Tennessee with this storm; they might get ice, which is always bad.

[DubbleT]

Here in Bristol we got just a little over an inch or so last week, and it did stick around for a few days before melting off. I got to throw a few snowballs at some of my co-workers, lol. (Even had a few people try to call off work because they were afraid to drive, even though the roads were fine!) Light snow is a possibility three more times in the next ten days, hurray! I love a little snow as long as it doesn't stick around for long!

As you can see the weather does vary a bit depending on where you are in TN, so do your homework.

I don't feel the need to own a snow shovel either, I don't think most people I know have one either. Except for rare occasions a broom does just fine for clearing off any snow. I do make regular use of an ice scraper, and the attached snow brush comes in handy from time to time. I also have a sturdy winter coat and a good pair of lined gloves that get regular use every winter too. But it is nothing like the midwest winter and snow I grew up with!

As far as poisonous snakes and spiders go I don't think they are much of a problem if you are sensible. Walking through the woods isn't very likely to lead to a run in. I've never actually seen a poisonous snake or a black widow here, even though I'm sure they are around. I have seen brown recluse, they tend to like dark, musty places like woodpiles and old garages or basements, so if you are going to be messing about in that kind of environment read up on it and make sure to wear long sleeves, pants, hat, work gloves,etc.
If you spend a little time digging around on the TN forum you should find a fair amount of info on the subject.

[jabogitlu]

I was visiting my parents' house in Greeneville for Thanksgiving, and they got about 5 inches of snow. Elizabethton (where my husband's family is) got around 2-3"