Freezing temperatures could bring snow to Chattanooga this weekend


              An aerial view of downtown Lynchburg as the snow falls Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, in Lynchburg, Va. The snow has moved out of Virginia, but police say driving conditions remain dangerous and are encouraging people to stay off the roads. (Photo by Jay Westcott/News & Daily Advance via AP)
An aerial view of downtown Lynchburg as the snow falls Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, in Lynchburg, Va. The snow has moved out of Virginia, but police say driving conditions remain dangerous and are encouraging people to stay off the roads. (Photo by Jay Westcott/News & Daily Advance via AP)
photo Jaden Trammell, left, helps his grandfather Melvin Brummitt shovel snow from their driveway after an overnight winter storm brought snow to the region Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Icy roads caused headaches for motorists as the temperatures dropped into the teens overnight.

There is a chance of snow in the weekend weather forecast.

But don't rush to the grocery store yet to stock up on pizza and eggs and coffee.

A cold front is headed from Canada toward the Southeast, and it should get to the Chattanooga area sometime late Sunday or Monday morning.

But it is unlikely the area will get more than a dusting of the powdered stuff, according to weather forecasters.

WRCB-TV chief meteorologist Paul Barys said that for now, "it will be very, very, very light, maybe not even a dusting in the valleys."

The cold front is coming from the northwest, which is not conducive to large snow accumulation, Barys said. That is in part because the moist air needed for a good snowstorm is more likely to come when there is a storm to the south, he said, that moves north and hits colder air here.

As it is, the air from the northwest will be lifted as it hits the mountains and that "squeezes some moisture out of the clouds," Barys said.

"There is just not a lot of moisture in this system," agreed Jeremy Buckles, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morristown, Tenn. "Accumulations don't look favorable except in higher elevations."

But the cold front will push local temperatures below normal, Barys said. He is predicting lows of 29 on Saturday, 32 on Sunday, 29 on Monday and 27 on Tuesday.

The normal low for this time of the year is 31, he said.

Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at 423-757-6673, sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP, and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/noogahealth.

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