The National Weather Service has issued Tornado Watch 135 in
effect until 9 PM EDT this evening for the following
areas
In Tennessee this watch includes 19 counties
In East Tennessee
Anderson Bledsoe Bradley
Campbell Claiborne Grainger
Hamilton Hancock Knox
Loudon Marion McMinn
Meigs Morgan Rhea
Roane Scott Sequatchie
Union
In Virginia this watch includes 2 counties
In Southwest Virginia
Lee Wise
In Virginia this watch includes 1 independent city
In Southwest Virginia
City of Norton
This includes the cities of…Athens…Chattanooga…Cleveland…
Clinton…Dayton…Decatur…Dunlap…Jasper…Jonesville…Kingston…Knoxville…La Follette…Lenoir City…Maynardville…Oak Ridge…Oneida…Pikeville…Rutledge…Sneedville…Tazewell…Wartburg…Wise.
Surface analysis as of 3:28 PM EDT
The main band of rain affecting the area all day is about to move out. Behind it, a cold front and its associated low still loom. Thanks to instability in place over Middle and western East Tennessee…severe weather has broken out. Some of these storms have been tornadic. As a result, a Tornado Watch has been issued by the SPC (see above).
As the rain shield exits, some clearing should occur, allowing for destabilization of the atmosphere. This would allow for more thunderstorms to develop ahead of the front, and would possibly allow them to retain their severity. This threat decreases as we head closer to sunset, as we lose heating of the day (note: sunset today is at 7:40 PM EDT).
I will continue to monitor this, and if anything new develops, there’ll be a new post about it ASAP!
One note about the wind (or lack thereof in the valleys today, it seems): All this rain has stabilized the atmosphere, and has allowed the strongest winds to stay aloft. Gusty winds are still likely in the highest elevations, and anywhere that gets stuck under a stronger shower/thunderstorms that allow for downward transport of the stronger winds.
Filed under: Rain/Thunderstorms, Severe Weather, Watches
