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Thursday high notches Chattanooga record for consecutive days over 90 degrees

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.

By Ben Benton 6 min read

Chattanooga has gone 45 days hitting highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record Thursday, and forecasters say the heat won’t relent until next week.

“In terms of 1879 to the present day, when we look at the number of consecutive days for the max temperature was at least 90, 45 days in 2026 is the longest stretch in Chattanooga,” National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Wellington said Thursday by phone. “The second longest stretch was 38 days in 1993.”

The last time the daily high dipped below 90 this summer in Chattanooga was Aug. 3, according to weather service records. Daily high temperatures since then have averaged almost 95 degrees.

Recent high temperatures stem from a lingering “heat dome,” Wellington said. It was centered over Chattanooga Wednesday, roasting much of the South.

“Why they call it a heat dome is that the atmosphere, not just at the surface, but thousands of feet above the ground, is anomalously warm, and what warm air does is it expands as it warms,” he said. “So, the atmosphere actually expands overhead, whereas in cooler air the air contracts and shrinks.”

(READ MORE: How to stay cool in a heat wave even without air conditioning)

A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over a particular area, and it can linger for days to weeks, according to the weather service. Heat domes are typically linked to the behavior of the jet stream, which can cause the sun to create progressively hotter temperatures on the ground.

The warm, expanded air creates a dome of high air pressure, surrounded by cooler air nearer the surface, Wellington said. The differences in temperature and pressure can cause the heat dome to move.

Thursday high notches Chattanooga record for consecutive days over 90 degrees

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / A worker prepares the Walnut Street Bridge for opening in October on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / A worker prepares the Walnut Street Bridge for opening in October on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers maintain the grounds at Ross's Landing on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers maintain the grounds at Ross’s Landing on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers maintain the grounds at Ross's Landing as temperatures reached into the 90s on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers maintain the grounds at Ross’s Landing as temperatures reached into the 90s on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / A worker prepares the Walnut Street Bridge for opening in October on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / A worker prepares the Walnut Street Bridge for opening in October on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers install a dock at Ross's Landing as temperatures reach into the 90s on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Workers install a dock at Ross’s Landing as temperatures reach into the 90s on Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Rockwood, Tenn., residents Tim and Page Porter take off their shoes and cool off as they walk up the Passage water feature Sept. 17, 2026. Chattanooga has gone 45 days with highs of 90 degrees or more, setting a 147-year record, and the forecast calls for 90-plus heat through midweek.

“It’s been pretty much anchored right over sort of the Mid-South/Tennessee Valley region of the country, and then it’s generally slowly moving to the west,” he said. “It’ll be centered over Arkansas by the end of the weekend.”

When the heat wave of the summer of 1993 sizzled the region, Wellington said as he reviewed weather records, it was followed by a second stretch of blistering heat.

“It has a 38-day stretch of above 90 degrees that ended in early August,” he said of the 1993 record for 90-degree days. “And it has a second stretch of 26 days that ended in early September. And I’m like, wow, it must have had like one week there where it wasn’t 90 degrees.”

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Two months ago, Chattanooga was baked under the heat dome when temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees leading up to the Fourth of July holiday weekend, records show, but the dome shifted, and there were days with highs in the 70s.

CHATTANOOGA WEATHER RECORDS

Chattanooga weather records go back to 1879 and provide 147 years of weather data.

Most consecutive days over 90 degrees: 45 on Sept. 17, 2026

Highest average temperature in one year: 64.6 degrees in 2024

Lowest rainfall total in one year: 32.68 inches in 1904

Highest temperature: 107 on July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2012

Lowest temperature: -10 on Jan. 21, 1985, Jan. 31, 1966, and Feb. 13, 1899

Source: National Weather Service

TVA RECORDS

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s power grid has performed well so far this summer, according to agency spokesperson Scott Fiedler.

“This week, the grid is stable, and we’ve been able to meet demand all summer long,” Fiedler said by email.

The federal utility also set a record.

“Just this month, I can tell you that TVA met its highest demand of this summer on Sept. 3 with a peak of 33,271 megawatts,” Fiedler said. “That is also the all-time record for September and the fifth-highest all-time summer demand. In fact, the first three days of September set all-time records for the month.”

The federal utility prepares year-round for summer’s power demand, he said, completing 50 reliability projects at TVA gas, hydro and coal sites. Additionally, the agency executed more than 430 preventative maintenance activities at those sites thanks to lessons learned in previous summers and robust inspections.

The weather service is calling for highs of 98 degrees Friday and Saturday, 96 Sunday and Monday, and 93 Tuesday. There is a 20% chance of showers Friday, a 40% chance Saturday and a 30% chance of rain Sunday and Monday. The rain chance increases to 60% Tuesday and 30% Wednesday, when the high is expected to be 89.

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Contact Southeast Tennessee reporter Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.