Expected snow totals and confidence in snow continues to increase. The afternoon update from the National Weather Service raised the projections of over 2″ of snow to over 4″ for Greene County. In fact, of all the counties in East Tennessee, Greene and Johnson Counties have the highest liklihood of the most snow. The latest weather maps also show Greene County as right in the center of the expected snow event for East Tennessee. In addition, the weather alerts for our county have been upped to a Winter Storm Warning, with 3-7″ of snow expected, and up to 10″ in the higher elevations.
Snowfall is expected to begin early Friday afternoon and continue through the early morning hours of Sunday. The northern half of Greene County should see less accumulation, but only slightly. The heaviest snow line is for the counties south of I-81.
A Cold Weather Advisory remains in effect through Sunday, with lows in the single digits expected and wind chills below zero.
A weather system developing along the East Coast will bring this round of snow. Updated forecasts today show Greene County currently has about a 75% chance of receiving more than three inches of snow. Totals through Sunday show that we could see 4-6″ down in the valley, with 6-8″ in the mountains. The system is also expected to dump snow along the I-81 corridor in Virginia.
Forecasters say the storm is expected to form over the Atlantic Ocean and could intensify rapidly into what is known as a bomb cyclone, a powerful storm system that strengthens quickly. If that occurs, it could evolve into a nor’easter capable of producing several inches of snow from the Carolinas to New England.
The western edge of the storm is expected to extend into the Tennessee Valley and portions of Virginia and West Virginia. Snow could begin developing Friday afternoon, with the greatest snowfall potential expected to remain east of Knoxville. Significant accumulation is possible in the mountains, with accumulating snow also possible across parts of East Tennessee.
Regardless of snowfall amounts, very cold conditions are expected. An arctic air mass moving into the region is forecast to bring dangerous wind chills near or below zero Saturday and Sunday, with wind chills ranging from 10 to 20 degrees below zero in the higher elevations. Overnight low temperatures this weekend are expected to fall into the single digits.
Residents are encouraged to monitor updated forecasts as details become clearer in the coming days.
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Morristown TN
1250 PM EST Thu Jan 29 2026
Hawkins-Sullivan-Johnson-Northwest Cocke-Cocke Smoky Mountains-Northwest Greene-Southeast Greene-Washington TN-Unicoi-Northwest Carter-Southeast Carter-Blount Smoky Mountains-Sevier Smoky Mountains-Southeast Monroe-Wise-Scott VA-Russell-Washington VA-Including the cities of Elkmont, Shady Valley, Neva, Mooresburg, Laurel Bloomery, Hansonville, Abingdon, Cades Cove, Appalachia, South Holston Dam, Trade, Honaker, Rosedale, Pardee, Citico, Big
Stone Gap, Bristol VA, Greeneville, Dye, Hampton, Castlewood, Gatlinburg, Coeburn, Hartford, Kingsport, Johnson City, Doeville, Benhams, Bybee, Lebanon, Cedar Creek, Limestone Cove, Coker Creek, Wise, Mountain City, Erwin, Elizabethton, Bristol TN, Newport, Norton, Unicoi, and Hiltons
1250 PM EST Thu Jan 29 2026
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM FRIDAY TO 1 AM EST SUNDAY
* WHAT…Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 3 and 7 inches possible, with locally higher amounts up to 10 inches over the higher peaks of the east Tennessee mountains. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph.
* WHERE…Portions of east Tennessee and southwest Virginia.
* WHEN…From 1 PM Friday to 1 AM EST Sunday.
* IMPACTS…Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Friday evening commute.
We remain under broad mid/upper level troughing over the eastern CONUS, and a weak short wave and surface low are moving across the south/central Great Plains. This surface low will move across the Gulf States and remain weak through Firday, but a weak inverted trough will intrude into our area as the weak short wave moves across, and some light snow will likely begin over at least northern areas during the day.
By Friday night into Saturday, a strong upper low will be diving southeast out of the northern Plains and western Great Lakes region, tracking over our area and then lifting off to our east and northeast. The weak surface low will move into the Atlantic then rapidly strengthen and move to the northeast off shore. The
exact details are still uncertain and will matter for the amounts, but we will see snow across the area Friday night into Saturday with the heaviest amounts likely to be over our northeastern half. Confidence in a heavy snow event is high enough to go with a winter storm warning for our eastern half. Will have a winter
weather advisory elsewhere with the exception of our far southwest counties where confidence in significant accumulations is still lower. Precipitation types are not in question, as it will be cold enough for all snow. Given how cold it will be, any snow that falls will accumulate and even minor accumulations will
cause slippery road conditions. In addition, there will be some blowing of snow especially over the higher mountains as winds will be gusty from the north and northwest.
The other story for the weekend will be the cold. Another surge of arctic air will rush in on the north and northwest winds, and high temperatures Saturday will struggle to get above the lower 20s even in the valleys. Low temperatures Saturday night will be in the single digits in most areas. Wind chill values will dip to near or below zero at times in the valley with well below zero values at times in the higher terrain as well Friday night through Saturday night. Sunday will likely see temperatures remaining below freezing for nearly all of the area, and Sunday night will to be very cold as well. Have issued an extreme cold watch for the E TN mountains and a cold weather advisory elsewhere.
Early in the week heights will begin to rise and we will begin a moderating trend. It will still be rather cold Monday, especially in areas whith snow cover. By Tuesday through Thursday high temperatures will likely climb to near, or into, the 40s across most valley locations. Models are not in great agreement that far out, but generally indicate another short wave affecting the area during the mid week time frame, and current thermal profiles sugggest much of any precipitation that falls would likely be rain.
