Weather

We’ve wandered into Spring a bit early, with some nice warm temperatures here recently! That’s going to lead to some severe weather issues across a lot of the South, and it’s a bit uncertain as to what happens up here. We’ll break it down on today’s Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast.

Tonight looks fine, with partly cloudy skies and a low of 47. And to be honest, I don’t see many problems with Saturday, as we’ll have clouds increasing and a few showers possible during the day. It’ll be windy and warm, with highs around 77.

A word about the wind…things are quite dry around here, at least they will be until Sunday morning, so the wind and everything being dry is a big risk for wildfires. Be careful, and try to delay lighting up anything like brush piles until another week until things are less dry and windy. There is a Red Flag Warning in the mountains along the Tennessee border with North Carolina all the way through Sunday morning because of those winds and dry conditions.

Tomorrow night is when more clouds move in and showers and storms become possible. While the biggest chances of rain and storms come after midnight, don’t be surprised to see some rainfall at any time. As far as timing, I think we’ll stay away from severe storms until at least the early morning hours Sunday. Looks like things are more favorable for severe weather from 3 AM to 9 AM, but rain and storms will be around from midnight to noon Sunday.

Types of severe weather entails pretty much anything at this time. The computers are putting up some numbers that are favorable for storms, but not necessarily for wind shear that will help tornadoes form. Regardless of that, I’m not ruling out a tornado as storms move through with that cold front Sunday morning. The big thing is gusty winds in general, from the non-storm based ones through tomorrow night to the storm induced winds early Sunday through noon.

Like I said, there’s a lot of fuzziness with this forecast. It’s not as clear cut for us as it is for Mississippi and Alabama for tomorrow, that’s for sure. I’ve heard from folks around here that have very low confidence in the severe storm forecast through Sunday. I’ll keep an eye on things in the next little bit between now and then to see if things get clearer.

The message for Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia is simply this: Be ready. No, it’s not a high risk, level 5 of 5, torcon 9 of 10 or whatever you want to paint over us. But any severe weather chance, for tornadoes or damaging winds or hail, is better than zero. And besides that, if you get ready for this event, you’ll be ready for others, too! Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?

So…while the weather is calm, make sure you know where to go in the event of a tornado warning. Be able to get the warning, either by turning emergency alerts on in the settings on your phone or making sure your weather radio works. Once that device goes off, go where you need to go, the lowest floor of the building you’re in, with as many walls between you and the outside as possible. Get helmets and shoes for everyone down there or where you can easily get to them also, just in case.

If you live in a mobile home, work now to figure out where you will go in the event of a tornado warning, because mobile homes are not safe spaces, no matter where you are. Same thing goes for cars. If you plan on driving, please plan around the storms. Leave early or late if you need to…I’ve seen plans change from Spring Breakers coming back from the Gulf Coast already…that’s a good idea to leave early to get in ahead of the storms.

Like I said, hopefully we don’t need any of this, we’ll get some loud but non-severe storms and be good to go. But in case we need it, you’ll know what to do. There’s also a Severe Weather Safety Rules page on the blog with more information.

After the storms Sunday morning, more showers are possible for the rest of the day as the cold front moves through. Highs should get to around 70 before things start cooling off behind the front. There could be a rain shower as late as Monday morning, but we’ll clear out during the day. It’ll be cooler for sure, with highs back around normal at around 57.

And if you know anyone from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama or that might be traveling through there, let them know what’s going on. The weather there is going to very likely be awful tomorrow, and they’ll need to be safe from it as well. In fact, if there are warnings here, make sure your loved ones up here know about it also!

There’s a lot going on, but after Sunday morning things should calm down quite a bit, at least for a little while. This is Spring, so we’ll see a few chances of severe weather between now and summer…which is why getting prepared for these storms is important, whether we get them or not!

In the event of tornado warnings, I’ll be on several stations: WHCB 91.5 FM, WETB 790 AM/93.7 FM, WPWT 870 AM/96.3 and 100.7 FM, WHGG 1090 AM/100.3 and 97.3 FM, and WABN 1230 AM and 104.1 FM. Since there are so many stations and varying coverage patterns, the location of the warning will determine which stations I’m on first. The goal is to start on WHCB, so a preset for 91.5 FM (or download our app or listen live on our website) and we’ll go from there.

Have a great and safe weekend!