Warmer Temps On The Way With High's In The 50's This Weekend

I hope everyone stayed inside as much as they could these past few days. It's been a very cold one for most of the entire US this week. Recorded high's of -20's were gathered for the Chicago area with wind chills near -50. Luckily, we are much farther south but we did see temperatures dip down to the mid teens with some isolated and higher elevations reaching single digits. Combine this with the winds and we saw wind chill ratings in the single digits to sub zero. Overall, it has been a very cold couple of days. Tonight will be yet another cold night with lows in the mid to low teens. On the bright side, much warmer temperatures are on the way. Expect with the warmer temperatures a few days of sunshine before there's a chance of rain Sunday. Below you can see the warmer temperatures and the changing pattern for our area over the next few days. We have come into the part of winter where the subtropical jet stream has become more active. Think of this as a big contributor to the weather between the US and the equator. During the winter this jet stream dips farther south, but as spring begins to take form, it will rise northward to begin effecting our area. The polar jet (jet stream for the poles) begins to head northward. These two jets (subtropical and polar) begin to "clash" creating variations in temperatures and weather. This will continue for the next couple of months until toward the end of Spring. For east TN, expect an overall warming pattern with spells of cold outbreaks in between. No doubt winter is sticking around, but Spring is starting to head its way here.   
Side note: these two jets are big contributors to tornadoes and "active" weather in the midwest during the Spring and Fall time periods. 

Below is the last North American Model (NAM) with the precipitation type forecast. Expect over the next few days for it to be drier. Lots of sun is expected into the rest of the work week before the rain finds its way back into east TN early next week. Bundle up tomorrow (Thursday) morning as temps will be in the upper teens and low 20's as you head out the door. For your high tomorrow, it will be in the upper 30's with mid 40's on Friday. This weekend is expected to be mostly sunny with highs in the upper 50's, near 60. Sunday we could see a stray rain shower, but overall partly cloudy for the day. Early next week, the rain will return.
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