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Chattanooga: Weather gets chilly

By: Adam Crisp
(Contact)

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Bill Race

Bring out your blankets, it’s going to be cold the next few nights.

Today’s 47-degree high is unseasonably chilly, but it feels a whole lot worse because of all the wind, said David Glenn, WTVC-TV NewsChannel 9’s chief meteorologist. And temperatures won’t get much warmer until the first of next week, he said.

“It feels a lot colder because of the breeze,” Mr. Glenn said of today’s weather. “But actually the coldest morning is going to be Wednesday, when temperatures will drop down to the upper 20s. But with the lack of wind, it may not feel as cold as Tuesday morning.”

So that means Wednesday morning’s temperatures may be the coldest of the season so far.

Average lows this time of year should be about 39 degrees, said Mary Black, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. By Thursday, the temperatures should be back to normal, she said.

“We’re going to see the temperatures moderated some,” Ms. Black said. “We should be up in the mid 50s, above freezing by Thursday, and at night we’ll dip down to around freezing.”

This week’s weather comes relatively close to setting records. The record low of 18 degrees was recorded in 1891, and the record high was 79 degrees in 1985. The average high is 60, and the average low is 39, figures show.

The cold weather brought the usual warnings from the National Weather Service about pets, people and plants. All three groups should come indoors or get extra bundling to ward off potential problems.

“If you have any houseplants, they should have long (ago) been brought inside,” said Bob Smiley, manager for the Barn Nursery. “Blooming plants like pansies won’t be killed by the frost, but it will bite off their blooms. You should cover those up, but not with plastic. It has no (insulating) value. Plants and shrubs that are planted in the ground will be fine.”

RECORD TEMPERATURES

Chattanooga’s coldest temperature: 10 degrees on Feb. 13, 1899, Jan. 31, 1966, and Jan. 21, 1985

COLDEST AVERAGE WINTER

34.8 degrees: 1962-63

Source: National Weather Service

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