Heavy Snow — Macon, Tennessee

1998-02-03 to 1998-02-04 · Macon, Tennessee

Wider weather episode

The heavy snow brought treacherous driving conditions, school closures, and widespread power outages across the eastern part of Middle Tennessee. Interstate 40 was closed at Monterey due to the heavy snow. Winds gusted to 50 mph at times during the snowstorm. The weight of the heavy wet snow, along with the strong winds, downed many trees and power lines causing numerous power outages. TEMA reported damages from the snow storm at about 5 million dollars. The report will be broken down into county/snow depth/ and related problems.Bedford / 2-4" / Widespread power outages. Bledsoe / 4-18" / Snow on ridges, widespread power outages. As much as 10-18 inches fell at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Guests at the inn were moved to cabins with fireplaces so they could have heat and keep warm.Cannon / 7-8" / Widespread power outages. Clay / 2-6" / Widespread power outages; higher amounts in the higher elevations. Coffee / 3-6" / Widespread power outages; higher amounts in the higher elevations. Dekalb / 5-6" / Almost 100% of the county was without power. Shelters were being opened. Franklin / 3-10" / Widespread power outages; higher amounts across the higher elevations, for example Sewanee Mountain received 10 inches of snow. Grundy / 6-14" / Widespread power outages.Jackson / 2-8" / Widespread trees and power lines down. Higher amounts in the eastern part of the county.Macon / 4"-6" / Widespread power outages.Marion / 6-8" / Heavy snow occurred mainly on ridges.Overton / 8-12" / Widespread power outages. The National Guard was called out to clear the road of debris.Pickett / 6" / Almost the entire county was without power. 70,000 or 80% of Volunteer Electric Cooperative customers had no power. The Blizzard of "93 only affected 30,000 VEC customers or about 35%. It was the worst snowstorm to hit the area in 20 years.Putnam / 8-12" / Interstate 40 was closed between Monterey and Cookeville for 18 hours. Traffic was backed up for 13 miles and did not start to move until Wednesday afternoon. There were widespread power outages due to downed trees. 100,000 electric customers were without power.Sequatchie / 2-4" / Snow was on the higher elevations.Smith / 4-6" / The heaviest snow was in the eastern part of the county, near Chestnut Mound. Van Buren / 4" / Widespread power outages.Warren / 4-8" / Widespread power outages.White / 5-7" / Widespread power outages.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5634316. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.