Rain blows through early, with winds ramping up and potentially causing damage today

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - It was a rainy early morning, but we’re now in the windy part of this story, with gusty winds that can cause some tree damage, warranting a WVLT First Alert Weather Day. Linger showers change to some snow showers as the colder air returns to our area.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Wednesday is still on the warm side, with an early afternoon high of 59 degrees. Our higher elevations have a windy day, with gusts around 45 mph, but those winds spill into the Valley late morning through the afternoon hours, as the temperatures gradually dip. The winds warrant a WVLT First Alert Weather Day, as branches can snap and weak trees can fall. All of East Tennessee is included in a Wind Advisory and the Smoky Mountains are under a High Wind Warning, where gusts can actually reach 80 to 90 mph.

Clouds linger and a few rain showers are possible midday through the afternoon Wednesday, then it changes to scattered wintry mix to snow showers Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, with a low of 34 degrees. Yet again, most of these snow showers (on and off) are in our higher elevations.

LOOKING AHEAD

Wintry mix to snow showers are scattered Thursday morning, then spotty rain to sleet and some snow showers linger with clouds and cold winds. We’ll be around 42 degrees for a high, but it feels colder most of the day with a southwesterly wind 10 to 20+ mph.

Spotty snow showers gradually taper off to the mountains Thursday night to Friday morning, as the sky starts to clear and the low drops to around 26 degrees. We’ll then see more sunshine Friday, with a high of 42 degrees but still a cold breeze.

In your First Alert 8-Day Planner, scattered rain showers return to our area Sunday into early Monday of next week. Then a cold front’s rain returns next Wednesday, we are seeing a change to some snow just beyond your 8-day forecast.

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