Meteorologists correctly predicted Monday’s warmer temperatures after underestimating the Tennessee Valley’s largest snowstorm since 1993, but they find it difficult to pinpoint what’s in store for the near future.
The National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn., issued a “hazardous weather outlook” until this morning that included Hamilton County.
One forecaster’s predictions didn’t seem so hazardous after all.
“The freezing, wintry stuff will be well north of the Chattanooga area,” said David Hotz, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. “Really, for the Chattanooga area, it’ll be just rain. We don’t expect any accumulations in the Chattanooga area.”
But a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Ga., refused to rule out additional winter weather visiting the area this morning.
ON THE WEBFor more information on local weather advisories issued by the National Weather Service, visit www.srh.noaa.gov/mrx. Then, search for your locale in the upper left part of the screen.
“The Tennessee side might encounter something like a wintry mix tonight and then toward morning,” said meteorologist Brian Lynn. “I can say for the Georgia side, no, we’re not expecting anything along the lines of wintertime precipitation. We think it’s just going to be too warm.”
Both meteorologists agreed that high temperatures should stay in the 50s today before cooling off toward the low 40s on Thursday in front of another possible weekend winter system.
Over the weekend, Chattanooga received 4.7 inches of snow after area meteorologists predicted little more than freezing rain and traces of snow accumulation.
EPB workers continued to battle the effects of the snow, even though most of it had melted Monday afternoon.
EPB spokeswoman Lacie Newton said a fallen tree caused 1,000 customers in the Mowbray Mountain area to lose power until early Monday morning.
She said the utility company’s efforts on Monday focused on 68 customers that were still in the dark in Soddy-Daisy, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain and St. Elmo.
Vague weather warnings present a number of challenges to EPB, Ms. Newton said, most notably a coherent “management of resources.”
“We’ll do tonight what we always do and that’s watch the weather closely,” she said. “We’ll keep our eyes open and, if we see anything, we’ll have the manpower to respond.”
Chattanooga Public Works officials reported no plans to safeguard the city’s roadways Monday night, but the weather alert prompted them to keep an eye on what might happen.
“We’re still having some tree issues,” said Jim Templeton, director of citywide services for Chattanooga’s Public Works. “But as far as salt and sand, if there’s any black ice, we respond when the reports comes in. We just have to stay tuned and monitor everything.”
In Georgia, Catoosa County officials continued to stay on top of hazardous conditions on the road.
“They have their plows and salt and sand ready,” said Chris Salter, a dispatcher for the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department. “They did that this morning, but we’re still watching the weather.”
Hamilton County Schools spokeswoman Danielle Clark said school will be in session today.