Winter Storm — Overton, Tennessee

2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15 · Overton, Tennessee

Event narrative

Freezing rain brought ice accumulations up to 1/2 inch across Overton County, resulting in dozens of downed trees, power lines, and power poles. Some trees, power lines, and power poles fell onto homes and blocked numerous roads. Parts of Overton County were without electricity for up to 2 weeks. Damage estimates from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reached 3.24 million dollars.

Wider weather episode

An Arctic airmass spread across Middle Tennessee from Thursday February 11 through Sunday February 14, 2021, bringing very cold temperatures in the teens and 20s along with lengthy periods of freezing drizzle. This led to ice forming on elevated surfaces such as trees and power lines, as well as bridges, overpasses, and some roadways. As a major winter storm brought additional freezing rain, sleet, and snow to the area from Sunday evening February 14 into Monday February 15, 2021, the previous ice combined with the new ice, sleet, and snow to cause significant ice storm damage across parts of east-central Middle Tennessee, as well as create massive travel disruptions areawide. Locations from Giles and Lincoln Counties northeastward to Pickett and northern Fentress Counties received anywhere from 0.5 to over 1 of ice accretion from the combination of the weekend freezing drizzle plus new freezing rain. Numerous trees and power lines were downed in many counties, resulting in tens of thousands of power outages, with the worst damage affecting Lincoln, Bedford, Coffee, Cannon, Putnam, Overton, and northern Fentress Counties. Elsewhere, 2 to 3 inches of combined sleet and snow along with the frigid temperatures caked most surfaces in a thick layer of ice, with travel coming to a standstill across the northwestern half of Middle Tennessee - including the Nashville metro area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 946035. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.