NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee is under a state of emergency ahead of Friday’s winter storm, and while state leaders have described the expected snowfall as “pretty standard,” they still want Tennesseans to prepare.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) crews are monitoring conditions and moving around supplies, including food and water, as a part of the level four state of emergency, “just in case things go wrong,” TEMA director Patrick Sheehan said.
Sheehan told reporters the anticipated weather doesn’t look like it will be too severe for Tennessee’s standards.
“It’ll maybe be a little bit more [snow] than we’re accustomed to in the state, but there’s nothing really anomalous about the amount of snowfall we’re going to see here,” Sheehan said. “It’s pretty much what we normally see once a year.”
The snow will still cause slick roads. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is urging drivers to stay off of them if possible.
“Not only for your own safety, but for the safety of other motorists, and the safety of our crews. We really need room to work,” Erin Zeigler, TDOT’s Region 3 communications officer said.
TDOT crews have been brining the primary and secondary roads since Wednesday and will complete the process today.
“We’re really lucky our roads are dry right now, so that allows us to get a great layer of brine down which is kind of a good insurance policy for us,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler advises those who have to drive today, Friday, and into the weekend to give TDOT crews space to work. Drivers can check TDOT’s Smartway traffic map for any hazards and road closures before heading out. Also, pack a kit with blankets, a coat, gloves, a hat, a shovel, and a type of aggregate, like sand, salt, or kitty litter, in case you get stuck or stranded.
Once the snow falls, TDOT will extend its HELP truck routes to help clear crashes and drivers who get stuck.
“We need about half an inch of snow to start plowing, and just with the conditions that we have and the forecast that we know about, we have a lot of time to prepare,” Ziegler said.
Since there is less ice expected in most areas of Tennessee compared to years past, and temperatures above the teens in Friday’s forecast, power outages aren’t as much of a concern.
However, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is prepared for an increased demand on the grid. The good news is Scott Fielder, public information officer for the TVA told News 2 it won’t get to the record-breaking 35,000 megawatts it did last January during Winter Storm Heather.
The TVA has also spent around $430 million to upgrade its grid since having to do rolling blackouts to alleviate the strain placed on the grid during Winter Storm Elliot in Jan. 2023.
“We’ve added additional structures around critical instruments, insulation, heat tape around those sensors, adding real-time sensors for our control staff, so we’re ready to go this year for when mother nature brings us this cold weather,” Fiedler said. “I like to tell people that we’re either in winter season or we’re preparing for winter season because we’ve got to get our plants ready year-round.”
