Jackson-West Tennessee Weather Summary

Freeze Watches Posted for Coldest Air of the Season

(Monday, October 27, 2008) – The coldest air of the fall is pouring into West Tennessee. One of the most incredible evidences of the arrival of this new air mass is the dryness of the air. Check out the graph of the dew point temperature.

Dew Point Trace from N. Jackson

The sharp drop into the teens speaks for itself. At 5 AM, skies were clear and temperatures had fallen into the mid-30s in Paris (37º) and it was 39º at Huntingdon. Jackson and Savannah were on the upper end of the scale at 42º.

Today through Wednesday

The cold air will be the big story. Freeze watches are posted for late tonight and again late Tuesday night. My thinking, given the very low dew points that this will become a no-brainer for a Freeze Warning to be issued by the NWS. Tuesday night will be the coldest night. I think we’ll see temps bottom out in the 20s in most areas outside of Memphis. That will clinch it for the growing season. By the way, this falls right in line with our average first 32º reading on the calendar. Daytime highs will be on the low end of the 50s today and Tuesday and in the upper 50s on Wednesday. Dry weather will prevail.

Thursday through the Weekend

Thursday will be a nice warm-up day ahead of a week disturbance will push another cold front through the area. Highs on Thursday will reach for 70º. This next front will have little or now moisture to work with so I expect only a few clouds with it. Highs Friday will be in the mid-60s. Meanwhile lows Thursday morning will be in the upper 30s and Friday morning in the mid-40s. Temperatures are a challenge for the upcoming weekend. I’m leaning toward a computer model that suggests we’ll could have possible highs in the upper 50s to around 60º. Morning lows will be in the 30s.

Eddie Holmes, C.B.M.

West Tennessee Weather Online