Prepare to bundle up, Chattanooga.
Those in and around the Scenic City are expected to feel the bite of a cold front sweeping in from Canada by midday today, with temperatures dropping to lows that haven’t been seen in months.
“It’s going back to early March weather,” said Paul Barys, a meteorologist for WRCB-TV.
Barys said that, as the weekend approaches, lows are expected to drop gradually to the upper 20s.
For North Georgia, temperatures will be similar, said David Hotz, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. He said the cold front is expected to stretch “all the way down to Florida.”
“It’s going to be a very cold latter half of the week — almost winterlike temperatures,” he said.
Before the lowest weekend temperatures hit, the rain that is passing through the area is expected to end, Hotz said.
The showers will amount to “a quarter of inch or less,” he said, which will have little impact on this year’s rain deficit.
The area average is 12.62 inches below normal, Hotz said, with October being just under an inch below the month’s average.
After preparing to combat the incoming cold, area residents also may need to prepare some of their plants, said John Thomason, a certified arborist for ABC Tree Services.
“There isn’t a great deal of things that you can do as far as trees are concerned — they’re going to have to weather it,” he said. “As far as tender vegetation — such as flower plants, vegetable plants, that sort of thing — most parties that have those are already understanding they need try to protect them.”
That protection, Thomason said, includes either bringing plants in or wrapping them up. He advised not to use plastic because it transfers cold, but rather old blankets or cloths.
Not for fall plants, though, Thomason said, adding those plants are able to survive the cold.
“It’s whatever you might have left over from summer that’s probably going to be what we call ‘bitten by the frost,'” he said.
Relief from the cold will begin to emerge sometime near the end of weekend, Hotz said.
“By the time we get to the latter half of the weekend and into early next week, we’ll have plenty of sunshine, and temperatures will slowly moderate,” he said. “This is the time of year that generally you don’t stay cold for very long.”
EXPECTED TEMPERATURES
High/Low
Today: 59/50
Friday: 53/39
Saturday: 51/29
Sunday: 57/28
Monday: 59/31
Tuesday: 67/34
Source: WRCB-TV