Smith County Weather Report – March 12, 2020

March 12, 2020

by Steve Norris, Smith County Insider Weather Correspondent

The lowest chance of rain in our forecast is 20% on Friday otherwise there is a chance of rain and a few thunderstorms everyday well into next week. Rain is likely and could be Heavy on Saturday and there is a 50 to 70% chance each day from Sunday through next Wednesday.

High temperatures are going to be getting warmer as they climb from the upper 50s this weekend to the low 70s by the middle of next week. One thing that concerns you when you see the warmer temperatures is that you know we are in our severe weather season and the warmer air provides fuel to the fire.

In the early morning hours of March 3rd an EF-3 tornado with Winds near 165 miles per hour traveled across Davidson, Wilson & Smith counties. The tornado was on the ground for 60 miles without lifting. These are called long-track tornadoes and are rare in Tennessee. The tornado began just west of Nashville and lifted three miles west of Gordonsville. It was the strongest tornado in Wilson County since April 16th 1998. The last EF-3 in Davidson County was April 7th 2006 with seven fatalities. Putnam County experienced their first EF-4 tornado since April 3rd 1974 when 10 people were killed. 18 Putnam Countians lost their lives in last Tuesday’s tornado, making it the most devastating tornado ever in Putnam County. It produced wind near 175 miles per hour.

The severe Storm Prediction Center did not even have Putnam county under a slight risk of severe weather until about two hours before the storm hit. Tornado prediction has increased immensely in the past 40 years but it has a long way to go and there will be lots of research done to determine why this particular storm became so destructive.

Steve Norris got his first job at 18 years old doing radio weather. Steve does forecasts for several radio stations and newspapers, and he serves as a severe weather meteorologist for some city governments in the Middle Tennessee area. Steve first became interested in weather when his grandfather bought him a thermometer when he was 10 years old. He has been loving weather for over 40 years.

If you need weather data or have any weather-related questions or comments, you can reach Steve Norris anytime at weather1@charter.net.

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