Written by: Amy Mejias
In Collegedale, the average temperatures in January range from highs between 35 and 50 degrees and lows between 19 and 32 degrees, according to the WeatherSpark website.
However, during the third week of January, Collegedale and its surrounding areas experienced temperatures that dipped into the single digits and stayed below freezing during the day. The frigid weather shut down Southern Adventist University’s campus for two days.
“The cold temps also caused several water mains to burst throughout the area — and one close to Southern’s campus.”
However, it wasn’t the coldest weather on record for the area. On Jan. 26, 1940, Chattanooga saw a low of negative 13 degrees, according to extremeweatherwatch.com, and it recorded several other instances of January temperatures dipping into the negatives, as well. As recently as Jan. 17, 2018, Chattanooga experienced a low of just 8 degrees, according to extremeweatherwatch.com.
Despite the low temperatures this month, those hoping for several inches of snow in Collegedale were disappointed, as the area received only a light dusting and some ice. In contrast, surrounding areas such as Hixson and Signal Mountain received several inches.
Josh Ingle, of the Ingle Weather Service Facebook page, explained why the snow seems to often go around our area. “The plateau to our north and primarily west and the mountains (Monteagle, Lookout, Signal, etc.) create a very unique weather pattern for our area,” Ingle said. “The river just past [them] regenerates the systems to our east. So weak systems, which are usually made up of snowy weather in our area, are essentially blocked.”
Ingle continued, “What usually occurs for Hamilton County to get snow involves a stronger system of moisture routing from the Gulf timed perfectly with a strong touting of cold air from the north. It almost has to be a double system for it to work correctly. This is the basis for much of our weather and the reason so many are unsuccessful with predicting weather here.”
Even with little snow, ice on the roadways was a concern for many areas. Collegedale’s Public Works Department made sure the roads were prepared. Eric Sines, Public Works director for the City of Collegedale, stated, “The recent weather caused a lot of sleet and wet snow, along with ice, which caused a lot of traffic issues in surrounding areas. But Collegedale was proactive and pretreated roads and was able to keep the city streets open and safe. There were no motor vehicle crashes in Collegedale from the snow/ice storm.”
He added, “The cold temps also caused several water mains to burst throughout the area – and one close to Southern’s campus.”
According to weatheratlas.com, the average snowfall for Collegedale in January is .71 inches, with a higher amount of .87 inches in February and dropping to .16 inches in March.
