Possible snow tileChattanooga's coldest weather this winter is expected to blow in later this week bringing expected highs in the middle 30s and lows below the teens.
Highs today are expected to reach about 40 degrees and get up to 50 degrees on Tuesday with mostly sunny skies. But on Wednesday the high temperatures are expected to plummet to 34 degrees. And on Thursday the forecast low is 10 degrees and lower for upper elevations.
"Cold air is coming in," said Meteorologist David Hotz of the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. It will be the coldest winter weather so far this season, he said.
Locally the coldest temperature this winter came Nov. 19, 2014, when the low dropped to 19 degrees.
"I'm ready for it to be cold," said Tabitha Campbell, a native Boston resident and Yellow Deli employee. "And if it's going to be cold, I don't mind seeing a little snow."
There could be a few flurries on Wednesday, but for the most part skies will be partly sunny, Hotz said.
Low precipitation will be a change for the region.
The incoming arctic air will follow thunderstorms that brought 1.31 inches of rain to the Chattanooga area Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Local rainfall caused flood concerns around the Sequatchie River in Whitwell, Tenn., according to Mary Black another National Weather Service meteorologist. She said the Sequatchie floods at 14 feet, and the water is expected to reach 13.9 feet today.
Flood warnings and advisories also went out for Lookout Creek in Dade County in North Georgia and the Paint Rock River in North Alabama.
The weekend's precipitation was nearly three times the .44 inches of rainfall normally expected for the first four days of January, said Black. But precipitation levels will likely balance out later in the month, she said.
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6431.