News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville saw 11.6 inches of snow in February with four inches recorded on Wednesday.
The Cookeville Weather Guy, Michael Detwiler, said that amount of accumulation is a rarity for Cookeville this time of year.
“The average for February is 1.4 inches,” Detwiler said. “As you can tell, that is significantly above our average. In a typical winter season, we are going to average close to eight inches, so we have far exceeded that.”
The amount of snowfall for this month has been a milestone, but Detwiler said the history of the area has seen much larger.
“That 11.6 inches that we discussed for February, that’s not even a record,” Detwiler said. “Our record in February was in 1979 with 15.8 inches of snow. Just to know another record, the greatest one day snowfall that Cookeville has ever had occurred November 2nd of 1966, and you are not going to believe the total. 15.2 inches of snow in one day.”
Detwiler said some areas might have seen more snowfall than others, but the National Weather Service is the official measurement. That data comes from the sensor at the Highway 111/Jefferson Avenue intersection near the water department.
“So, the city of Cookeville Water and Sewer Department, which is located on that property, they are the ones who are responsible for taking the maximum temperature, the minimum temperature and recording whatever precipitation we have whether it is rain or snow and what the depth of it is. So, they take a bunch of different measurements for the National Weather Service.”
Detwiler said Cookeville is closing in on 14 inches of snow for this winter, but future temperatures point towards an end to the winter.
“Our best day is Wednesday,” Detwiler said. “We are looking at sunny skies and a high of 59. So, my gut tells me we are rolling over to a warm cycle, and hopefully for all of us, we will stay there.”
While the future is promising. Detwiler said mother nature remains unpredictable. Detwiler said one of largest snow storms in Cookeville’s history happened in March of 1993.
