Winter Storm — White, Tennessee

2026-01-24 to 2026-01-25 · White, Tennessee

Event narrative

A mixture of snow, sleet, and ice impacted White County during the early morning hours of January 24th into the afternoon of January 25th. A variety of reporting sources measured snow accumulations of 1 to 2.5 inches with ice accumulations of 0.10 to 0.20 inches. This led to several reports of treacherous travel and downed powerlines, trees, and tree branches.

Wider weather episode

A major winter storm system impacted the State of Tennessee starting late Friday, January 23 and continuing into Sunday, January 25, 2026. Cold air moved into Tennessee Friday evening, setting the stage for winter weather through the weekend. This cold air along with a potent storm system resulted in primarily snow Friday night into Saturday morning. However, as warm air aloft moved north into Tennessee, this changed the precipitation from snow to sleet and then finally to freezing rain Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon. By the time precipitation came to an end, snow accumulations were highest across northwest Middle Tennessee where generally 3 to 5 inches were measured. A swath of ice accumulations of 0.25 to 0.50 inches was reported from Wayne County northeast through Nashville and to the Tennessee/Kentucky border. Locally higher amounts over one half inch were reported around the Nashville metro area.

These accumulations caused widespread, crippling damage in the form of broken and downed trees and power lines, dangerous to impossible travel conditions, and hundreds of thousands of power outages. Nashville Electric Service (NES) alone reported 230,000 customers without power which is the largest number of outages at one time NES has ever experienced.

The other major impact from this winter storm was frigid temperatures. Cold air already in place over the weekend was reinforced Sunday night as arctic air moved into Tennessee behind this winter storm. The coldest temperature readings were recorded Monday and Tuesday mornings with widespread readings in the single digits and wind chills below zero. With these very cold temperatures, impacts were felt long after the precipitation ended.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1303596. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.