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The frozen tundra of Scott Co.? Actually, it's Oneida City Park Lake in the midst of one of the longest-lived arctic outbreaks to affect East Tennessee in years.
An arctic airmass is being blamed for an unusually prolonged cold snap on the Cumberland Plateau and throughout much of the Southeast.
Cold air settled across Tennessee on New Year’s Day, with nighttime temperatures plunging to near single digits and daytime highs struggling into the 20s, and the cold air was expected to last at least through the upcoming weekend.
While the temperatures haven’t been unusual in their extremes—the coldest temperature recorded thus far in Oneida by the National Weather Service was seven degrees, on Sunday morning, while the coldest temperature during a similar cold outbreak last winter was one degree below zero—the longevity of the cold snap was expected to make it at least the longest such span of cold temperatures in more than 20 years.
The NWS recorded a high temperature of 33 degrees in Oneida on Saturday afternoon. As of the Independent Herald’s press time on Tuesday, that was the only time temperatures had risen above freezing locally since falling below freezing Friday morning. On Sunday, the high temperature topped out at only 19 degrees.
The NWS forecast for Scott County called for the area to remain below freezing through at least Sunday, with the high temperature forecasted to be 29 degrees yesterday (Wednesday). Long-range forecasts call for a warming trend next week.
Scott County Schools were delayed two hours on Monday and again on Tuesday due to the cold temperatures. Several other school systems in East Tennessee opted for the late start as well.
Unexpected snow showers caused brief periods of slick roadways on Saturday morning and again on Monday morning. Accumulating snow was in the forecast for today (Thursday).
