Jan 30th-February 1st 2026 Arctic Blast/ULL Snow OBS Thread.

[dwagner88]

I have what I would call  heavy snow for the first time. Went sledding earlier and the tracks are filled in already.

[BlunderStorm]

It's a wonderland out there! 10.5F

[waltrip]

I haven't taken an official measurement yet, but it's the most snow since '98 for me and still adding up.

Been a long time since we’ve had a big snow in Greeneville.

Best snow for us since 1998 is right….28 years…been a long time coming

Just going to enjoy this day


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[John1122]

1 hour ago, Holston_River_Rambler said:

Approximately 2" here. May have had 3 total, but it has been so light all night, accums. have probably compacted some. 

I was surprised to find almost an inch of compaction in one of my measuring spots from last night. I didn't take any measurement at all from 4:30 am to 8am. I was at 5.5 inches in that spot, from 4:30 to 8 my cleaned off spot accumulated .75 inches, but the measuring spot actually went down to 5.25 inches.

[WintryMixmaster]

Almost impossible to measure accurately with the blowing, compaction, and drifting, but I'd guess 3.5 inches +/- 0.5 inch in my yard. Steady at 15.1 degrees and light snow falling. Not sure how much more I can reasonably expect unless we get a period of heavier snow, the light powder is blowing away as fast as its falling

[Windspeed]

Congrats to everyone who got smashed. The event is still going, of course. We still have nice backing bands. Might we get a deformation band or trowal as the precipitation pulls eastward this afternoon?

[Greyhound]

As others have said, hard to tell the amounts because of the wind here in Fountain City. Steady snow has been falling in pretty much a 45 degree angle to a straight line since I got up. Looking at the ruler I have staked too far in the yard for my eyes to see, looks like 4.5”, with drifts on the ruler. 14 degrees. Unbelievable.


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[bearman]

My official measurement for Cedar Bluff Area as of 9AM Yard, 4" Sidewalk that was exposed to the sun 2" and a half. Sidewalk that never gets any sun, 4" and a half.

[Jed33]

Really curious to know how Carver fared in Kingsport?

[John1122]

This live cam from down in town shows how ineffective salt is in this weather. This is Hwy 25w/63. TDOT had heavily pretreated and spread salt through the night.

https://www.resortcams.com/webcams/downtown-lafollette-tn/

[fountainguy97]

Just now, John1122 said:

This live cam from down in town shows how ineffective salt is in this weather. This is Hwy 25w/63. TDOT had heavily pretreated and spread salt through the night.

https://www.resortcams.com/webcams/downtown-lafollette-tn/

They have been by 3-4 times salting my road this morning. Each time it turns slushy for 15 min then straight back white. I think they are just building up a skating rink at this point.

[bearman]

What is it 28 degrees for the freezing point of salt water?  I think that right or very close.

[dwagner88]

2 minutes ago, John1122 said:

This live cam from down in town shows how ineffective salt is in this weather. This is Hwy 25w/63. TDOT had heavily pretreated and spread salt through the night.

https://www.resortcams.com/webcams/downtown-lafollette-tn/

This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but my many years of snow events at TDOT has made me very skeptical of brine. During the event last January we brined half of I-75 in Hamilton County and left the other half untreated. It made zero difference during the event.

[nrgjeff]

Playing with house money now. Chattanooga is well above the 50% NWS forecast. See if we can double down and push the 90%. Maybe play the Hard Ways for highest scenario? I like blackjack and craps metaphors.

Y'all to my northeast, I didn't expect this. Do we have a hint of a baroclinic leaf? Didn't look at model satellite depictions but that seems more bullish than forecast.. little more than just a lumbering upper-low.

Bit early for Daytime RGB (transition from night RGB) but I think the leaf feature shows better than on Vis.

[WintryMixmaster]

Another 1-2" seems generous but possible if we get a band and a period of more moderate snowfall rates

[Vol Man]

6 minutes ago, Jed33 said:

Really curious to know how Carver fared in Kingsport?

I believe Carver lives on the west side of town. I'm on the east side and had about 6" an hour ago

[Windspeed]

This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but my many years of snow events at TDOT has made me very skeptical of brine. During the event last January we brined half of I-75 in Hamilton County and left the other half untreated. It made zero difference during the event.

It's just too cold for brine to be effective at these temperatures, no? They heavily treated the main road nearby, and it's all white other what they've managed to scrap or plow.

[Math/Met]

Finally found my board (amateur mistake lol). 9 inches in Greeneville. Added about 1 inch in the past 2 hours.

[John1122]

I see the OB is snow and blowing snow in Chattanooga, temp 18. How often do you guys see that?

[GBOVolz]

5.5” in Halls. Also a big wreck downtown on 40 at Hall of Fame







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[GBOVolz]

@Stovepipe are you still living in Murphy Hills?


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[GBOVolz]

[mention=1307]Stovepipe[/mention] are you still living in Murphy Hills?


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Can you get to Adrian Burnette school through your the first entrance of your subdivision?


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[GBOVolz]

[mention=1307]Stovepipe[/mention] are you still living in Murphy Hills?


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I just got called into work. Apparently we got water running out of the coolant tire back behind that school and I gotta go.


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[dwagner88]

11 minutes ago, Windspeed said:

23 minutes ago, dwagner88 said:

This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but my many years of snow events at TDOT has made me very skeptical of brine. During the event last January we brined half of I-75 in Hamilton County and left the other half untreated. It made zero difference during the event.

It's just too cold for brine to be effective at these temperatures, no? They heavily treated the main road nearby, and it's all white other what they've managed to scrap or plow.

The chemistry says brine can work down to near zero degrees without freezing. In practice it just doesn't often work that way. I think it buys about an hour of time at the very start of events with temps above 25. Then it get too diluted by meltwater and stops working.

[WintryMixmaster]

My front yard says "what storm?" (trees to the north block the snow). Meanwhile my backyard has a drift almost a foot deep up against the fence

[TellicoWx]

11 minutes ago, WintryMixmaster said:

My front yard says "what storm?" (trees to the north block the snow). Meanwhile my backyard has a drift almost a foot deep up against the fence

Same here with the drifting..still got moderate snow falling. My best guess is 5-6" here.

[xAllVolsx]

right at 7in here in Morristown. Another 1-2 inches possible. The last 2 hours of snow does seem wetter and increasing so curious to see what that does.

[IndTenn]

44 minutes ago, Vol Man said:

I believe Carver lives on the west side of town. I'm on the east side and had about 6" an hour ago

I'm on the southeast side of Kingsport, and just eyeballing it looks like 4", still snowing.

[nrgjeff]

Definitely a Midwest type of snow. Minnesota, KC, whatever. It is unusual in Chattanooga. We're enjoying it!

33 minutes ago, John1122 said:

I see the OB is snow and blowing snow in Chattanooga, temp 18. How often do you guys see that?

I may be closing in on two inches. Definitely 1.5 blowing around.

[tnweathernut]

1 hour ago, fountainguy97 said:

Really starting to stack up now. Probably 7" or more. Temp is 14.7.  Probably another 4-6 easily on the way.

It’s the one we’ve been waiting years for.  The south and east of I-81 crowd can finally claim victory!  Enjoy!!