Red Flag Warning

In effect until 6 o'clock this evening.

A cold front will move across the area this morning. Very dry conditions and gusty northwest winds are expected to produce critical fire weather conditions today.

Expect high temperatures to reach near 70° with a 10 to 15 mph northwest wind gusting to 25 mph. Residents in the Upper Cumberland are should not be doing an outdoors burning. Your weekend weather is below in the latest, local forecast link.

Remember, a red flag warning means that we have a high fire danger with increased probability of a quick spreading vegetation fire in the area within 24 hours.

**Link to: Severe Weather Terminology**

*Latest Local Forecast*

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Good Morning!  What a gorgeous sunrise in Tennessee!

Most of us start this Thanksgiving-eve morning in the 20's across Middle Tennessee.  Across our entire state, temperatures range from 20° this morning in the Tri-Cities (located in extreme east TN) to 42° in Memphis on the Mississippi River.  Today will be nice and sunny with highs mainly in the lower 50's for the Cookeville area.

The map above shows quiet weather for us for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Our warmest day will be Thursday where we expect temperatures to reach in to the upper 50's.  Rain enters our picture for Sunday and we will, once again, cool down.  Highs on Sunday only make it to the lower 40's.   One quick note on the map above, notice Southern California has a low pressure system with an associated front coming on shore.  That show extinguish any of the remaining wildfires.

*Latest, Local Forecast*

Weather Site of The Day
Did you know that 24 people have been killed and more than 300 injured this year by lightning strikes in the U.S.?  Struckbylightning.org is a site dedicated to educating the public about this weather danger.  I'd like to thank Michael Utley (a strike victim himself) for putting this informative site in place.  Take some time to visit.

How Not To Measure Temperature #76  is available for your reading pleasure at 'Watts Up With That'!

Finally, in yesterday's post, I promised you all a look at where we stand in 2008 with precipitation.  I haven't forgotten and will get that work posted today!

Sunny Days Ahead

After the fog clears this morning, most of us in Middle Tennessee will have a very nice, sunny day.  Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper 70's.

Here is something really interesting.  It is called the Foliage Color Report from the Foliage Network. Basically, it tells us what the colors are doing on the trees.  Our area is in the 'low color' and sections west of Nashville are in the little/no change.  I'll continue to post these as they are available.

*Latest, Local Forecast *

This week is "Fire Prevention Week "..the rains came at just the right time as our fire danger was very high during this nearly month of no rainfall.

On this date in 1980, Nashville hits 91° and Crossville sees 83° as both set record highs for October 9th.

Memorial Day 2007

Thank you veterans for the job you do for all of us. A history of Memorial Day is available by clicking on the title of this post or here.

Our forecast is for continued DRY weather on the Cumberland Plateau as well as all over the Southeastern United States. Many areas are experiencing drought-like conditions. Fire danger is high across several states. Back here on the Plateau, a Special Weather Statement has been issued for an elevated fire danger.

The next best chance for rain appears (right now) to be on Thursday and Friday. Currently, the experts put it at a 20% chance...but, at 4-5 days away, I'm reserving any hope for rain until we get much, much closer.

One last thing, the National Weather Service put together a comprehensive look at our current lack of rainfall. If you'd like to read it, click here. Thanks to News 2's Meteorologist Justin Bruce for locating this article.

Special Note on Today's Links...anything that is underlined can be clicked on and will take you to the article being referenced. For some of you, this is very elementary...while others will learn something new today! Have a wonderful Memorial Day 2007.