Smith County Weather Report – February 25th, 2021

February 25, 2021

by Steve Norris, Smith County Insider Weather Correspondent

Middle Tennessee has been slipping and sliding through our snowiest February in 15 years. Cookeville has received near 11 inches, 10 in portions of Sumner County, over 9 inches in Columbia, and 8 inches in Wilson County. The polar jet stream, which is like a river of strong wind in the upper atmosphere dividing the Arctic air from the milder air to the South, dipped all the way down into southern Texas bringing the coldest weather in over 100 years. Once it was positioned across North Alabama, we were to the north of the polar jet, and that left middle Tennessee in the deep arctic cold.

Several big rain systems are coming to Smith County from Friday through the weekend and into Monday. They are expected to bring two to four inches of rainfall; flooding could be a possibility in some areas. We are enjoying much milder weather this week with highs in the 60s. We do not see any more arctic air in our area into the first week of March, but we will probably get at least one more round of winter weather before spring arrives. The days are getting longer and doesn’t it seem nice! Sunset now is 5:30 p.m. The time changes on March 13th, and it will be setting after 6:30. If you have a weather question or need weather data, my email is weather1@charter.net