County dodges most of snowstorm

Posted: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 7:39 am

Obion Countians woke this morning with about one-half inch of snow on the ground, making for an unscheduled vacation for students in the Obion County School System.
The Union City School System started two hours late.
Up to an inch per hour of snow fell across much of Tennessee earlier today, with areas around Memphis registering between 61⁄2 and 101⁄2 inches by 8 a.m. The amounts lessened as the storm system traveled north, with Jackson receiving up to three inches.
A winter weather advisory for freezing drizzle is in effect until noon Tuesday for the area, with ice accumulations of one to two hundredths of an inch expected north of Jonesboro Ark., to Paris. Light freezing drizzle was to begin late this morning and was to be intermittent through the day. Light to moderate snow may mix in, especially during the overnight hours. All precipitation should end by late Tuesday morning.
Obion County is expected to see a high near 30 today, with a low around 26. Little or no ice accumulation is expected here, with new snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Light snow is expected to continue before noon in Obion County on Tuesday with a high near 32 and a low around 15. It should be sunny on Wednesday, with a high near 25 and a low around 8.
It will be much the same on Thursday, when the high will be near 26 and the low around 9.
The National Weather Service posted a winter storm warning for today from Nashville eastward across the Cumberland Plateau and southward to the Alabama and Georgia state lines. Snow depths up to eight inches were reported in southern Middle Tennessee.
Hundreds of schools and school systems were closed statewide, either because back roads were difficult or impossible to travel on or because more snow was moving onto an area.
Carla Gaster, the facilities manager for 20/20 Research, a Nashville company, looked out of her kitchen window in Ashland City before dawn today and said snow was still falling.
“It’s really soft, fluffy and pretty,” Ms. Gaster told the Associated Press, adding that she was glad she didn’t have to drive in it. She said her company allows employees to work from home during bad weather. A snowplow had gone down the city street where she lives, but no other traffic was seen.
Her husband, George Gaster, was setting out on his 25-mile drive to his job as a mechanic at a Nashville truck sales company.
A Tennessee Department of Transportation spokeswoman said snowplow operators had managed to keep all interstate highways open.
“It’s a long-term battle for us,” B.J. Doughty told WTVF-TV in Nashville. “After it tapers off, we’ll see some improvements on our interstates and ramps.”
Doughty said it takes about 90 minutes for a snowplow operator to complete a route. By the time the trucks began retracing the routes this Monday, fresh snow had fallen on them.
Most of the snow had ended in West Tennessee, except for patches between Memphis and Jackson.
In East Tennessee, snow continued to fall from Chattanooga, up the Tennessee Valley through Knoxville and on northeast through the Tri-Cities.
Most of Kentucky is also under a winter weather advisory as snow moves northeastward out of Tennessee.
Most the expected accumulations for today and tonight were less than an inch.
The advisory does not include part of western Kentucky, but does include Owensboro and Bowling Green and all points eastward.
Temperatures aren’t expected to rise above freezing through the weekend.

Published in The Messenger 1.10.11