It is a sad state of affairs when mid 30s to lower 40s is considered “warmer” around here, but here we are! We are “warmer” today and tomorrow before another big push of arctic air in time for the weekend. After a few clouds this morning, we are mostly sunny for a large part of our Wednesday. Daytime highs by the afternoon are between 34 and 41 over southern middle Tennessee and between 39 and 44 over north Alabama and northeast Mississippi. We won’t have clouds for an insulating blanket tonight like we did Tuesday night, and that means overnight lows are back into the mid to upper 10s, although northwest Alabama into northeast Mississippi could hang closer to 20 or 21 for an overnight low temperature.
We hold onto the lower 40s for Thursday, and another big shot of arctic air comes down for Friday and the weekend as a big low pressure affects the eastern United States. Highs on Friday are back to the freezing mark as the next cold front pushes through, and then highs on Saturday are into the lower 20s (with some folks possibly staying closer to the upper 10s instead!) with overnight lows both Friday night and Saturday night into the single digits. We will have strong northerly winds gusting as high as 25-30 mph during this time, and that will have wind chills in the single digits to below zero over the weekend! We do start to ease up on the cold some going into next week as that low pressure exits off the East Coast, but we’re still talking about highs in the 40s at best by the middle of next week.
As the big upper trough driving the arctic blast comes across us Friday into Saturday, we will be watching for the potential for snow flurries or scattered snow showers across the area. We don’t see a lot of moisture with the system until it’s off to our east, but with how cold we will be, the lift from that upper trough will try to squeeze out every bit of available moisture. I don’t expect significant impacts, but with how cold temperatures will be, and ground temperatures now near the freezing mark areawide, it wouldn’t be hard to get a quick dusting of snow Friday into Saturday if you get under a heavier snow shower for a short period of time. We just don’t expect any widespread significant impacts.
While we do look to climb back into the 40s next week, that will still be below long-term climatological averages for this time of year. The NWS Climate Prediction Center’s temperature and precipitation outlooks keep us below normal in both temps and precipitation around here for the next 7 to 14 days. No signs of truly warmer weather or major precipitation around here anytime soon!
