BRRRRRRR! Coldest Morning Since Last March.

Photo Friday this morning on Channel 3 Eyewitness News Today, and thanks to Janis Johnson for sending this beautiful shot in. Her picture was taken right near Central High School. I tried posting a couple other pictures that were submitted from Graysville Mountain but for whatever reason this computer didn't want to transfer them here. But anyway thanks everyone for sending them in.
BRRRRRRRRRR! is the headline this morning. Teens and twenties across the area. As I type this it's 29 here at Channel 3, but as cold as 19 in Dayton. Everywhere I went yesterday folks were asking when it's going to warm up again.
Two ways to look at this cold snap. First, you could say, "Well it's mid November and we should be this cold." But when you examine our records for 2005, these temperatures are kind of rare territory.
Including this morning, Chattanooga has recorded official lows:

• In the 30s - 52 times
• In the 20s - 17 times
• In the Teens - 3 times

Chattanooga averages 68 lows at or below 32 degrees, BUT:

• In 2005, so far only 29 mornings have been that cold
• And we've only had ONE daytime high below freezing. That was the 31 degree high recorded on January 23rd.

And compared to the record highs we had just over a week ago, this cold feels especially harsh. Yesterday's wind had some teeth too. So lighter winds will make 50 this afternoon feel quite a bit better. And we should head into the upper 50s Saturday afternoon.

Cooler than average temps stick with us through Thanksgiving the way things look right now. The only argument the models are having this morning is where a coastal low develops this weekend. Right now I'm leaning with the idea it's far enough southeast of here that all we see is an increase in clouds. And we probably stay dry through Thanksgiving.

Have a great weekend!