The Oak Ridge basketball games that had been scheduled for Tuesday at Karns have been moved to Monday because of the threat of snow and cold winter weather on Tuesday.
There is an 80 percent chance of snow in the Oak Ridge area on Tuesday, and the low Tuesday night could be 16 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the seven-day forecast by the National Weather Service in Morristown. [Read more…]
The recent 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur that was felt in Oak Ridge, and other reported earthquakes since then, made us wonder: How common are earthquakes in the area?
Minor earthquakes, those that can’t be felt, are fairly common, according to a customized search of data available through the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were 247 earthquakes in a roughly three-year period in an area outlined by a custom-drawn map that includes much of East Tennessee and part of western North Carolina.
But with one exception, all of the earthquakes were 3.0 magnitude or less. Earthquakes that weak are generally not felt. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority was spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)
The Tennessee Valley Authority confirmed Wednesday that 2018 was the wettest year in the Tennessee Valley in 129 years of record keeping.
There was a basin average of 67.1 inches of rain across the Tennessee Valley in 2018, TVA said.
The previous record was 65.1 inches in 1973.
The TVA rain gauge on Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina received 118.8 inches of rain in 2018.
The Tennessee Valley region normally averages 51 inches of rain a year. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority is spilling or sluicing through gates at reservoirs including Chickamauga, pictured above, with heavy rain in the forecast from Thursday, Dec. 27, to Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy TVA)
A record amount of rain has fallen in the Tennessee River Valley in 2018, and the year isn’t over yet. The rain might not be either.
The previous record of 65.1 inches of rain was set in 1973. The record, based on 129 years of weather data, was announced by the Tennessee Valley Authority on Friday.
“As 2018 draws to a close, yearly rainfall totals for the TVA region continue to climb to near record levels, and the trend for above average rainfall totals continues right up to year’s end,” the public utility said.
“For the week before Christmas, rainfall averaged two inches in the eastern Valley and 1.4 inches in the western Valley,” said James Everett, senior manager for TVA’s River Forecast Center. “We began spilling and sluicing at several locations the day after Christmas to increase flows and increase flood storage capacity, and that will likely continue into the New Year.” [Read more…]
Note: This story was updated at 1:05 p.m.
Airport Road and Midway Drive in Oliver Springs have closed due to flooding, and weather forecasters have issued a flash flood watch for the area.
Airport Road, which is on the east side of Oliver Springs, frequently floods during heavy, prolonged rains, and drivers sometimes get stuck there when they try to drive through the water, which can be high and moving fast.
A flash flood watch is in effect until 1 p.m. Friday in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Knoxville, and Anderson, Morgan and Roane counties, among other communities, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown. Heavy rain continues today (Friday, December 28), with flooding possible, forecasters said. [Read more…]
Many roads in Oak Ridge were covered by a wet, slushy snow on Sunday morning, Dec. 9, 2018, and some were slippery even when they appeared relatively clear. Pictured above is South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m.
Many roads in Oak Ridge were covered by a wet, slushy snow on Sunday morning, and some were slippery even when they appeared relatively clear.
The Oak Ridge Police Department said there were slick spots coming into Oak Ridge from Solway.
Oak Ridge Today measured about 5/8 inch of snow on a sidewalk in one spot mid-morning Sunday.
Main roads such as Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike were mostly clear, with slush in some spots such as the median, while side streets remained snow-covered. [Read more…]
To extend its weather modeling capabilities, the U.S. Air Force has joined the computing experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a strategic collaboration that includes procurement and operation of a new high-performance weather modeling computer system. Key members of the Air Force and ORNL teams gathered on July 10, 2018, to kick off the project and tour the facilities supporting the new system. (Photo courtesy ORNL)
For the U.S. military, accurate weather prediction is vital to both the planning and execution of worldwide missions. To extend its weather modeling capabilities, the U.S. Air Force has joined the computing experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a strategic collaboration that includes procurement and operation of a new high-performance weather modeling computer system. Key members of the Air Force and ORNL teams, including computing and global security team members, gathered on July 10 to kick off this project and tour the facilities supporting the new system, according to a story posted by ORNL.
The Air Force 557th Weather Wing provides the Air Force and Army with global- and regional-level numerical weather model forecasts. With the increasing scale of the requirements for the new system, the Air Force and ORNL identified an opportunity to take advantage of the capabilities of ORNL’s National Center for Computational Sciences—including expertise in high-performance computing facilities and infrastructure, systems administration, computing procurement and acquisition, and system operations, the story said.
“We learned about the Air Force’s needs, and it was immediately clear that ORNL could help them solve their problems,” said Jim Rogers, NCCS director of computing and facilities. “We can integrate the Air Force weather team’s needs into our facilities in a cost-effective way, leveraging our capabilities to deliver exceedingly high availability to support their mission.” [Read more…]
Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected tonight. Damaging winds, large hail, and lightning will be the main threats with the storms. (Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown)
A tornado watch has been issued for Anderson County until 4 a.m. Saturday. In addition to Anderson County, the watch applies to other nearby East Tennessee counties, including Blount, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union.
The tornado watch was issued by the National Weather Service in Morristown at 8 p.m. Friday.
A tornado warning has been issued for the areas west of Roane County, between Cookeville and Crossville in Middle Tennessee. Crossville is about 90 minutes west of Oak Ridge and Cookeville is farther west.
The National Weather Service in Morristown said strong to severe thunderstorms are expected Friday night. Damaging winds, large hail, and lightning will be the main threats from the storms, forecasters said. [Read more…]
About 11,500 homes and businesses lost power due to a lightning strike at one of the city’s main substations on Thursday morning, officials said.
The widespread power outage was reported at 6:18 a.m. Thursday. Power lost due to the lightning strike was restored before 7:15 a.m., the Oak Ridge Electric Department said.
The Electric Department said there were widespread electric outages as storms moved through the area Thursday morning. The storms included high winds, heavy rains, and intense lightning. [Read more…]
Norris Dam is pictured above on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. (Photo by Tennessee Valley Authority)
The Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday said it is releasing more water out of Norris Dam, increasing high river flows on the Clinch River, which flows past Oak Ridge.
“Because of more heavy rain in the forecast, water releases out of Norris Dam will increase today to 135,000 gallons per second,” TVA said Wednesday.
TVA has been posting updates on social media about the recent rains and their impact on reservoirs, rivers, and dams. [Read more…]
Peter Thornton
Peter Thornton, deputy director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Climate Change Science Institute and group leader for the Terrestrial Systems Modeling Group in ORNL’s Environmental Sciences Division, will describe the current best understanding of climate change on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m., a press release said. The public is invited to attend this free program.
Thornton’s presentation will describe evidence regarding historical and modern climate changes, and projections of future climate based on Earth system models, the press release said. His current research involves the development, evaluation, and application of Earth system models for future climate change prediction. His areas of expertise include the interaction of water, energy, carbon, and nutrients within land ecosystems, the interactions of vegetation communities with the atmosphere, and weather observations over land, the release said. (See a brief ORNL summary here.)
The presentation, co-sponsored by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, Climate Coalition Lobby-Knoxville, and the Citizens Climate Coalition at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, will be in the Social Room at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
A car is stuck in flood water on Mountain Road in Anderson County on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)
Rescuers in Anderson County have responded to three calls of drivers trapped in high waters, authorities said Sunday.
There were no injuries reported, but the cars remained in the flooded areas, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.
One of those rescue calls was on Airport Road just east of Oliver Springs. In that case, a man who called 911 at the Oliver Springs Police Department at about 9 p.m. Saturday was able to escape on his own through flood water reported to be chest-deep.
The other two rescue calls were on Mountain Road and Pumpkin Hollow Road in east Anderson County, said Mark Lucas, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy. [Read more…]
