Heavy Snow — Northwest Greene, Tennessee

2016-01-22 to 2016-01-23 · Northwest Greene, Tennessee

Event narrative

A snowfall total of 6 inches was reported at Baileyton.

Wider weather episode

A strengthening low pressure system moved northeast from the Lower Mississippi Valley across the Southern Appalachians with a modified Arctic air mass in place prior to the system's arrival. Temperatures were cold enough in this air mass that much of the precipitation that fell across the northern Cumberland Plateau, southwest Virginia, and extreme northeast Tennessee was in the form of snow. Temperatures warmed above freezing for a few hours across much of the remainder of the Great Valley as the surface low approached the valley. However, once the pressure center shifted east into the Carolinas, the rain changed to snow. Winter storm warning criteria was met basically north of the Interstate 40 corridor with amounts ranging from around 8 to 12 inches of snow across the northern Cumberland Plateau across northeast Tennessee into Southwest Virginia. In some higher terrain areas, amounts topped out around 15 to 16 inches across Southwest Virginia with about two feet in the High Knob region. Snowfall totals were closer to 4 to 8 inches just south of this heavier band of snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 612412. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.