RECORD HIGH
Barely a week since schools were called off in anticipation of snow and bitter cold, a warm snap could set new record highs across the region — but it won’t last.
Wednesday’s temperature matched the local record high of 70 degrees; Thursday was expected to reach near the 80s.
“If that happens, it smashes the record,” WRCB-TV Channel 3 chief meteorologist Paul Barys said Wednesday.
The normal for this time of year in February is 53 degrees, Channel 3 meteorologist Alison Pryor said. The record for Feb. 7 was set in 1999 when it was 74 degrees in Chattanooga.
This time last year, temperatures were seasonable — a high of 53 and low of 32 — but from Feb. 21-23 in 2018, daily highs were 80, 81 and 81, setting new records over those three days, Pryor said. Those three days marked the warmest temperatures ever in February in Chattanooga, according to National Weather Service records in Morristown, Tennessee.
An arctic front stretching across the country Thursday and Friday is responsible for “strong temperature contrasts” and unseasonable warm weather across the South, as folks north and west toward the Rockies will see below-average temps, weather service officials in Morristown said Wednesday.
Meteorologist Charles Dalton said record highs are being triggered by “real persistent and nice southerly winds and warm air pushing in from the Gulf area.”
“Everybody across East Tennessee, the Carolinas and down into Georgia, they’re going to be pretty warm Thursday,” he added, noting most communities will see temperatures 20 to 25 degrees above normal.
“We’re forecasting 2 to 3 degrees above record highs,” Dalton said. “That’s pretty significant. That’s not something that happens every year.”
But come Friday, it will start to cool off again.
A cold front will usher in a brief return to normal across East Tennessee over the weekend, with another warmup possible next week.
“Thursday night, some rain showers will move through and end on Friday morning,” Barys said. “The actual high for Friday will be right after midnight and in the low 60s. Temperatures will hold steady or slowly fall throughout the day on Friday. Winds will be brisk and out of the northwest.”
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.