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SR 116 closed after landslide in north Anderson County

Posted at 12:51 pm February 7, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

State Route 116 is closed Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in north Anderson County between Indian Fork Lane and Bunch Cemetery due to a slide after heavy rains on Wednesday, Feb. 6. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Department of Transportation)

A section of State Route 116 is closed Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in north Anderson County due to a landslide after heavy rains on Wednesday, Feb. 6. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Department of Transportation)

Note: This story was updated at 12 p.m. Feb. 8.

A section of State Route 116 was closed Thursday morning in north Anderson County after a landslide following heavy rains on Wednesday, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The hillside alongside and beneath the road gave way, and part of the road collapsed.

TDOT spokesperson Mark Nagi said there is no timeline for how long the road might be closed, but it will be a long-term closure.

On Friday, WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that one lane of the road was open. [Read more…]

City put brine on roads to prepare for winter weather

Posted at 8:52 pm January 28, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department said snow plows are ready if needed, and crews put brine on the roads on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, in an effort to reduce impacts on driving conditions from the winter weather forecast to start overnight Monday and continuing into Tuesday morning. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department said snow plows are ready if needed, and crews put brine on the roads on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, to try to reduce the impact on driving conditions from the winter weather that is forecast to start overnight Monday and continue into Tuesday morning. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department put brine on roads on Monday to try to reduce the effect that winter weather might have on driving conditions. Snow plows are ready, and the Oak Ridge Police Department and Oak Ridge Fire Department are preparing by bringing in extra emergency response staff, the City of Oak Ridge said.

Snow is possible, and temperatures are expected to plunge in the Oak Ridge area on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the seven-day forecast by the National Weather Service in Morristown.

The snow is expected starting overnight Monday and continuing into Tuesday morning. The low on Wednesday night is forecast at 9 degrees Fahrenheit. [Read more…]

Snow, cold weather in forecast for next two days

Posted at 3:21 pm January 28, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy NOAA/National Weather Service

Snow is possible, and temperatures are expected to plunge in the Oak Ridge area on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the seven-day forecast by the National Weather Service in Morristown.

The snow is expected starting overnight Monday and continuing into Tuesday morning. The low on Wednesday night is forecast at 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

“An arctic cold front will move across the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians late tonight and Tuesday morning, bringing with it widespread precipitation,” the National Weather Service said in a winter weather advisory. “The precipitation will likely begin as a mixture of rain and snow but quickly transition to all snow around daybreak Tuesday morning. Snow and ice-covered roadways are expected area-wide, causing travel problems.”

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Great Smoky Mountains in Blount, Cocke, Sevier, and southeast Monroe counties from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, with heavy snow expected. [Read more…]

Basketball games rescheduled to Monday

Posted at 11:06 am January 27, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Map: How common are earthquakes in the area?

Posted at 7:10 pm January 6, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

TVA confirms 2018 was wettest year

Posted at 1:21 pm January 2, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

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)

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…]

TVA: 2018 sets record for rainfall in Tennessee Valley

Posted at 1:01 pm December 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Airport Road, Midway Drive close in OS due to flooding

Posted at 8:52 am December 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Snow in Oak Ridge

Posted at 11:52 am December 9, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Air Force, ORNL partner in high-performance computing & weather modeling system

Posted at 12:50 pm September 5, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

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…]

Tornado watch issued for Anderson County

Posted at 10:27 pm July 20, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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 customers lose power due to lightning strike at substation

Posted at 5:29 pm June 28, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

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