Jan 24 - 26 2026 Ice, sleet, and for a lucky few..... snow storm Observations Thread

[Holston_River_Rambler]

Getting what I call Ridley Scott snow this morning. High ration powder just floating around like atmospheric fiberglas in a Ridley Scot film. 

[Weatheriscool]

It looks likeva tornado went through my area. At it height yesterday there was almost a continuous cacophony of trees snapping in the woods trees that were the canopy trees, older ones. Most of my slash pine have been delimbed. My southern Magnolia is battered. Had two large trees just fall over in yard, so far nothing hit house. Hoping the sun can do some work on this ice today these trees need some relief 

[Daniel Boone]

About 3/4-1 inch snow fell here overnight and this Morning.

[Jed33]

Really coming down in town here now. Looks like some small bands are forming over the area.

[dwagner88]

We've got moderate snow up on Hwy 111 and the very top of Signal Mtn. Not much in the valley except icy crystals and the occasional perfect five point flake.

[*Flash*]

Tennessee ice totals from Winter Storm Fern...

[WintryMixmaster]

Got about a quarter inch of snow this AM, nice to break the winter shutout!

[John1122]

It's frigid, holding at 13 degrees with light snow.

[Shocker0]

I took my new drone out to a waterfall by the house. We got about 3" of unexpected snow! I'm about to go back shortly and walk down to the waterfall and take pics with my regular camera. Hopefully the snow will still be on the trees with how light and fluffy it is. Currently 12 degrees here, dropped slightly from our peak of 14 a couple hours ago.

[John1122]

It is pouring quarter + sized flakes out there right now. It's wringing every drop of moisture out. 2 very fluffy inches since last night. 

[Shocker0]

9 minutes ago, John1122 said:

It is pouring quarter + sized flakes out there right now. It's wringing every drop of moisture out. 2 very fluffy inches since last night. 

I wonder will see another burst right around sunset this evening like seems typical in the plateau areas with these systems.

[John1122]

12 minutes ago, Shocker0 said:

I wonder will see another burst right around sunset this evening like seems typical in the plateau areas with these systems.

I hope so, we were supposed to have cleared out already but it's not yet.

[Carvers Gap]

3 hours ago, *Flash* said:

Tennessee ice totals from Winter Storm Fern...

That map is accurate for MBY.  An inch of snow prior to the ice, and about 0.5" of snow last night.  The roads were TREACHEROUS this morning in Kingsport.  Solid sheet of ice w/ snow on top.  Wind chills were around 6F when I got up.   They have hovered there all day w/ the current gusts.  

[*Flash*]

Storm evolution as noted from the top of my car. About 2” of snow, 1” of sleet, and 0.50” of freezing rain. You can clearly see the two waves here.

[*Flash*]

Closing things out with a new time lapse! Hopefully, next time that 18-24" 5-day forecast will stick...

 

[John1122]

Snow cover doing work. 

 

[BlunderStorm]

Welp, after the first report I passed out (night shift sleep schedule lol) and fell off the wagon. But while it's still fresh I figure I could mention how it all played out.

So, on the 24th after a couple hours of virga, light graupel and flurries reached the surface around 7:30 that morning. For the next 8 hours on and off despite the column being moist there wasn't the energy (I think) to support appreciable precip. A perpetual dusting was maintained exactly at pace with sublimation with temps in the upper teens in the morning and low 20s in the afternoon. In the late afternoon say around 4 rates finally ramped up and genuine accumulation started with temps in the mid 20s. This continued for 3-4 hours that evening leading to 1.5 inches of snow. Between 7 and 8 a very abrupt transition to freezing rain occurred with perhaps a few minutes of fatties, and a few minutes of sleet before the depressing zr rolled in. This continued til past midnight in the upper 20s in mby.

Now, for the 25th the freezing rain continued in the early morning hours with temps creeping up into the low 30s. Ice accretion was significant. At 4AM I noted what I estimated to be at or just under a quarter inch of ice with temps on my station at 31F. By 5 AM we were above freezing in Honaker. We would remain above freezing for the rest of the day although notably hovering around 34F for the entire morning. Frankly a blessing given what could have been. Around 12:30 PM winds picked up significantly and temps shot up to 40-42F with a high around 4 PM of 43F. Around then all previous ice and snow was fully melted. Following this a gradual cooling followed with rainfall remaining moderate through the evening period. By midnight temperatures had fell to 33F. 

The 26th would see a strong return to frozen precip as soon as temperatures hit 32 a bit before 12:30 fully transitioning to snow by 1:00. Temperatures in the early morning cratered to the mid teens and remaining moisture began to be wrung out as a dry powdery snow with beautiful serrated columnar crystals. Over the daytime hours temperatures mainly stayed in the teens tapping the 20s late in the afternoon only to fall back immediately after. During the daylight hours snowfall was wholly continuous varying in flurries with a few miles of visibility to moderate snowfall at certain points taking visibility to under a half mile. A measurement at 9:30 PM indicated 2 inches of accumulation on pavement although winds had made some drifts up to 3 or troughs less than 1 inch. Roads were white but traction negotiable except where puddles began to ice over despite brining.

For this morning a few flurries and perhaps some near diamond dust was present. Radiational cooling didn't take over properly til 4AM. The low temp this morning is 5F. 

Dreams were dashed by overrunning but yesterdays flakes were a nice consolation prize and a new coat of paint for this bitter cold week ahead. Signals flirt with us in the east next weekend despite some discouraging recent runs. Maybe a lil something on Wednesday who knows. It's been fun and I'm out of lurking for a bit.

[Holston_River_Rambler]

[Daniel Boone]

3 hours ago, BlunderStorm said:

Welp, after the first report I passed out (night shift sleep schedule lol) and fell off the wagon. But while it's still fresh I figure I could mention how it all played out.

So, on the 24th after a couple hours of virga, light graupel and flurries reached the surface around 7:30 that morning. For the next 8 hours on and off despite the column being moist there wasn't the energy (I think) to support appreciable precip. A perpetual dusting was maintained exactly at pace with sublimation with temps in the upper teens in the morning and low 20s in the afternoon. In the late afternoon say around 4 rates finally ramped up and genuine accumulation started with temps in the mid 20s. This continued for 3-4 hours that evening leading to 1.5 inches of snow. Between 7 and 8 a very abrupt transition to freezing rain occurred with perhaps a few minutes of fatties, and a few minutes of sleet before the depressing zr rolled in. This continued til past midnight in the upper 20s in mby.

Now, for the 25th the freezing rain continued in the early morning hours with temps creeping up into the low 30s. Ice accretion was significant. At 4AM I noted what I estimated to be at or just under a quarter inch of ice with temps on my station at 31F. By 5 AM we were above freezing in Honaker. We would remain above freezing for the rest of the day although notably hovering around 34F for the entire morning. Frankly a blessing given what could have been. Around 12:30 PM winds picked up significantly and temps shot up to 40-42F with a high around 4 PM of 43F. Around then all previous ice and snow was fully melted. Following this a gradual cooling followed with rainfall remaining moderate through the evening period. By midnight temperatures had fell to 33F. 

The 26th would see a strong return to frozen precip as soon as temperatures hit 32 a bit before 12:30 fully transitioning to snow by 1:00. Temperatures in the early morning cratered to the mid teens and remaining moisture began to be wrung out as a dry powdery snow with beautiful serrated columnar crystals. Over the daytime hours temperatures mainly stayed in the teens tapping the 20s late in the afternoon only to fall back immediately after. During the daylight hours snowfall was wholly continuous varying in flurries with a few miles of visibility to moderate snowfall at certain points taking visibility to under a half mile. A measurement at 9:30 PM indicated 2 inches of accumulation on pavement although winds had made some drifts up to 3 or troughs less than 1 inch. Roads were white but traction negotiable except where puddles began to ice over despite brining.

For this morning a few flurries and perhaps some near diamond dust was present. Radiational cooling didn't take over properly til 4AM. The low temp this morning is 5F. 

Dreams were dashed by overrunning but yesterdays flakes were a nice consolation prize and a new coat of paint for this bitter cold week ahead. Signals flirt with us in the east next weekend despite some discouraging recent runs. Maybe a lil something on Wednesday who knows. It's been fun and I'm out of lurking for a bit.

I figured there were a couple unches or more that fell yesterday over the higher upslope areas. Wound up with an inch here yesterday. Our Afternoon High was 19. 1 this Morning.