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VN GURU
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KNOXVILLE - First the good news: Earlier predictions that Friday's storm could bring up to a quarter-inch of ice could be wrong.
The bad? That's because models are now showing totals could be even higher, with up to half an inch possible and with the previous worst-case scenario of a quarter inch now constituting the low end of predictions.
"It started earlier, a couple of hours earlier, than expected," said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Doyle in Morristown. "The end time for all of this (Friday afternoon) is still the same, though, so we're likely going to have a lot more moisture."
Shortly after 8 a.m., the weather service extended its Ice Storm Warning - issued earlier for a large portion of East Tennessee and part of southwest Virginia - to include all of the area of Kentucky bordering East and Central Tennessee. The warning extends until 7 p.m. Friday night.
Another twist of luck, bad luck, to be exact, is that the moisture is spread more to the north than thought, and the cold air moving in from the north is more dominant than thought.
"We're getting some more prevalent winds coming down the valley," said Doyle. "That's going to keep the temperature cooler longer."
Knoxville and the surrounding area have already been through one band of precipitation, but a second band is just beginning to move in as of 11 a.m. At this point, it stretches from Cocke and Greene Counties to the outskirts of Nashville, and radar images indicate it seems to be a lot more intense than the earlier band.
The bad? That's because models are now showing totals could be even higher, with up to half an inch possible and with the previous worst-case scenario of a quarter inch now constituting the low end of predictions.
"It started earlier, a couple of hours earlier, than expected," said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Doyle in Morristown. "The end time for all of this (Friday afternoon) is still the same, though, so we're likely going to have a lot more moisture."
Shortly after 8 a.m., the weather service extended its Ice Storm Warning - issued earlier for a large portion of East Tennessee and part of southwest Virginia - to include all of the area of Kentucky bordering East and Central Tennessee. The warning extends until 7 p.m. Friday night.
Another twist of luck, bad luck, to be exact, is that the moisture is spread more to the north than thought, and the cold air moving in from the north is more dominant than thought.
"We're getting some more prevalent winds coming down the valley," said Doyle. "That's going to keep the temperature cooler longer."
Knoxville and the surrounding area have already been through one band of precipitation, but a second band is just beginning to move in as of 11 a.m. At this point, it stretches from Cocke and Greene Counties to the outskirts of Nashville, and radar images indicate it seems to be a lot more intense than the earlier band.
