Chattanooga: Get ready for next cold snap

Any overnight flurries will seem warm after today’s icy wind chill pulls the “feels-like” temperature down to tingle-digit levels for the next two nights.

“After last weekend, this is kind of a brutal slap in the face by winter,” said David Glenn, meteorologist with WTVC NewsChannel 9.

Today will be very cold with highs in the region barely edging past the freezing mark, he said. But a stiff north-northwest blow at 15-20 mph will make it feel like teens and 20s as another cold front hits the southern Appalachians, Mr. Glenn said.

He said tonight is expected to be colder still, with water-pipe-freezing temperatures in the low to midteens downtown. But Thursday should give way to a tease of spring.

With the coldest January of the past five years barely behind us, Mr. Glenn said temperatures on Thursday should surpass 40 degrees, “then we’ll see a rapid warm-up, and we’ll be back to the 60s by the weekend.”

For the colder days and nights, Salvation Army spokeswoman Kimberly George said homeless shelter hours will be expanded to help keep street people warm. The Salvation Army, partnering with the Union Gospel Mission, also has about 20 new space heaters for families struggling to keep their homes and apartments warm, Ms. George said.

“We could use more heaters,” she said. “And we always need coffee and creamer and sugar. And coats and blankets.”

Mr. Glenn said local residents should be prepared for anything-goes weather in the next few weeks.

“We’re going to see wild swings of temperatures in February,” he said. “It’s normal.”