Winter Weather — Hancock, Tennessee

2026-01-24 to 2026-01-26 · Hancock, Tennessee

Event narrative

Light snow between 1 and 8 pm LST during the first bout yielded an inch of snowfall north of Bean Station before freezing rain led to at least a glaze of ice accumulation on elevated surfaces. A CoCoRaHS report near Sneedville measured event total snowfall of 1.4 inches.

Wider weather episode

Broad scale upper lift led to a complex winter storm across East Tennessee, with onset precipitation of snow transitioning to freezing rain before ending as rain as the temperatures rose through the evening, night, and following morning. This storm led to 7 fatalities in East Tennessee. On the morning of the 25th the strengthening low level jet that was advancing warm air northwards led to a high end mountain wave wind event in portions of the East Tennessee mountains.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1315041. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.