Heavy Snow Blankets Area

February 13, 2014, Jefferson County, TN
-Staff Photo by Jeff Depew

The East Tennessee area has had a hit or miss relationship with accumulating snow during the last several years. Wednesday’s snow storm certainly fell into the hit category and answered snow lover’s desire for a deep, playable snow. Wet snowflakes began to fall around noon on Wednesday but quickly died down. According to meteorologists, the brief spurt of snow was just the precursor to the moisture that was making its way into the area for the overnight hours. Late evening saw the snow return to the region and by Thursday morning, February 12, 2014, around 7 inches of snow were blanketing the greater Jefferson County area and 6 to 16 inches of snow had accumulated in Sevier County, depending on the altitude, according to information provided by the National Weather Service in Morristown. This marks the first time since 1996 that there has been at least six inches of measurable snowfall and since the blizzard of 1993 that snowfall has exceeded six inches locally.

The National Weather Service in Morristown is expecting some light snowfall continuing through the day with minimal further accumulations and then it appears to be a much brighter forecast. Friday, a system will be moving in but the weather experts in Morristown are predicting that the bulk of that precipitation will miss the valley area, though it could be troublesome for those in the higher elevations. For those that are missing the warm days of spring, there is a break in the cold weather pattern and it could mean some very spring like days on tap for the region. Anthony Cavallucci, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, said that the trend for the next several months points to a warmer than average spring. He warned, however, that warming temperatures may not totally take another significant snowfall out of the picture. If there is a brief temperature drop and the moisture is available, we could see another snowy event. Cavallucci and the rest of the staff at the local National Weather Service have been working diligently to provide the most up to date information on the weather situation and they can now communicate with the public via facebook. Those that would like to submit measurements or check out the latest in weather can connect with the Morristown team by searching US National Weather Service on the facebook search option.