Mother Nature's icy grip on Middle Tennessee on The Murfreesboro Post

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Mother Nature's icy grip on Middle Tennessee

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Friday, January 1, 2010 11:33 pm


The morning of Dec. 11 was the coldest of the winter in Middle Tennessee. As strong high-pressure area was centered over the Southeast, the temperature in Nashville fell to 15, Clarksville recorded a chilly 17 degrees and Murfreesboro froze at 13 degrees. That’s far from the average temperature of 38 degrees Murfreesboro saw in December, just a few degrees under the normal average of 40 degrees. “These are the coldest temperatures so far this winter season,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Bobby Boyd said.		Top 10 snowfalls in Nashville 1. March 17, 1892 - 17.0 inches 2. Feb. 20-21, 1929 - 15.0 3. Dec. 31, 1963-Jan. 1, 1964 - 10.2 4. Feb. 3, 1886 - 9.8 5. Feb. 25, 1894 - 9.7 6. Nov. 23-24, 1950 - 9.2 7. Feb.11, 1910 - 8.8 8. March 19, 1996 - 8.7 9. Jan. 29, 1905 - 8.5 10. March 20, 1968 - 8.2 11. Jan. 6-7, 1988 - 8.1

But not the coldest the mid-state has ever seen.

On Jan. 26, 1940, Murfreesboro recorded a bone-chilling -19 degrees. More recently, Middle Tennessee saw below-zero temperatures in January 1982 and February 1996.

The sub-zero temperatures in 1996 were accompanied by record-breaking snow on March 19, when 8.7 inches were seen in Nashville.

The most snow ever seen in the area was the Middle Tennessee Snowstorm of 1892.

“One of the heaviest snowstorms ever known to occur in Middle Tennessee occurred between March 15 and 18, 1892,” Boyd said.

“Nashville recorded 17.0 inches during a 24-hour period on March 17th 1892, which to this day is still a 24-hour snowfall record for Nashville, Tennessee,” he continued, adding the storm dumped a total of 21.5 inches on Nashville. “March of 1892 remains the snowiest month on record in Nashville.”

Boyd explained a low-pressure system developed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved across New Orleans, Alabama and Georgia, bringing Gulf moisture into the cold air of Middle Tennessee in March 1892.

It may seem like a freak snow storm, but in fact, Middle Tennessee is no stranger to snow.

The last big snow may have been six years ago when seven inches of the white stuff blanketed the midstate on Jan. 16, but in the middle of the 20th century many storms dropped five inches or more across the area.

Between Dec. 31, 1963 and Jan. 1, 1964, 10.2 inches of snow fell in Nashville. The ’60s had several heavy snows topping seven inches.

“Heavy snowfalls in Nashville have been rare in recent winters,” Boyd said. “In fact, snow itself has been below average the last six winter seasons. The average winter snowfall in Nashville is nine inches.”

This winter may stay below average, if the woolly worms are right.

“Weather lore predictors suggest we’re going to have a relatively mild winter,” local weather prognosticator Dewayne Trail said.

Trail said local indicators, like the woolly worm, persimmon and Mother Nature’s other omens, suggest some freezing temperatures and a few light snows, but nothing heavy this winter season.

“However, average winter temperatures will prevail,” he said.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

Tagged under Weather

Member Opinions:

By: SocEtTuem on 1/2/10
Must be global warming. Wait a minute, maybe it's the coming ice age that was being predicted in the 1970's. Guess we will have to wait and see.

By: Geana on 1/2/10
I think most people would feel it's one or the other depending on the season they're experiencing the extreme weather conditions. But yes, you're right, we have to wait and see :)

By: Farmall on 1/4/10
South Rutherford county had 12 inches last year. To bad the airport is the only official spot to meausre it.

By: SpecialK on 1/4/10
By my calculation, the five earliest record snowfalls (1886 thru 1910) averaged 10.9 inches, and the five most recent (1950 thru 1996) averaged approxmately 9 inches.

The five earliest records were registered over a span of 24 years, the five most recent were scattered over a span of 46 years.

One wonders if these data tend to be consistent with the hypothesis of "global warming"?