Description

Hi All,

The main weather and climate story of January 2026 was the major winter storm that impacted the state from Saturday, January 24 through Monday, January 26 with rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow, followed by extremely cold conditions. Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories were in place across the state on Friday, January 23, as snow and sleet spread into Tennessee from the west in the overnight hours of Friday into Saturday. Most areas of the state saw an initial round of snow and sleet, before a layer of warm air aloft caused most locations to see some freezing rain later on Saturday and into Sunday.   The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported that over to 315,000 customers were without power across the state by Sunday afternoon, with the hardest hit areas for power outages where the heaviest freezing rain accumulated along a line from Hardeman County up through Nashville/Davidson County and into Sumner and Macon counties to the north and east of Nashville. Nashville Electric Service reported that this storm caused the largest power outage in the city’s history, with 230,000 customers without power (approximately half of their customers). By Wednesday February 4, the Tennessee Department of Health had confirmed 29 weather-related fatalities connected to this winter storm.   A second winter storm impacted East Tennessee in the final days of January, with heavy snow starting in the afternoon hours of Friday, January 30 and continuing through Saturday, January 31 producing snow totals of 6-12-inches across the northeastern portions of the state. Due to a very cold atmospheric profile, this winter storm brought all snow and had a very high snow-to-liquid ratio producing light and fluffy snow that did not cause any major issues with power systems, but did cause issues with transportation in this region of the state.

Check out the attached full report and snapshots for more info!

Andrew & Wil

Tennessee Climate Office

East Tennessee State University

Department of Geosciences

310 Ross Hall Johnson City, TN 37614

Publication Date

1-2026

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