Tennessee
Wetter than normal Tennessee winter? What Farmers’ Almanac and weather forecasters predict
How ‘La Niña’ is causing this year’s extreme weather events
La Niña, the cool phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, is set to trigger extreme weather events in 2024.
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Instead of a winter wonderland, Tennessee — along with the rest of the United States — is expected to experience a wet whirlwind, according to the 208th edition of the Farmers’ Almanac. The 2024-2025 winter weather outlook calls for a winter season full of rapid-fire storms that will bring both rain and snow for most regions.
The outlook predicts a cold, wet winter for most locations. Average or above normal temperatures are forecast for New England, the Northeast, the Southern Plains, the Southeast and the Atlantic Coast regions.
“It definitely looks more wet than white in many areas,” Farmers’ Almanac Editor Sandi Duncan told USA TODAY. “Obviously, depending on where you live, there might be more white than wet, but we’re focusing in on the wet winter ahead.”
Here’s what lies ahead regarding winter weather.
What does the Farmers’ Almanac say about the 2024-2025 winter outlook in Tennessee?
As previously reported by USA TODAY, the Farmers’ Almanac predicts that Southeast states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) are expected to be “mild and wet” overall.
“But that doesn’t mean they will escape Old Man Winter,” added Duncan.
Tennessee will experience a hotter and wetter than average winter season, according to the National Weather Service
According to the Climate Prediction Center, Tennessee will experience above average temperatures (33-40%) with parts of the Middle Tennessee region experiencing above average precipitation (33-40%) during December, January and February.
“There is still a 60-67% chance that either near normal or below normal temperatures are experienced, but our best prediction is that we’ll exceed the monthly temperature averages,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist, Ryan Husted.
In December, Nashville experiences average highs of 52, average lows of 33 and an average precipitation of 4.43 inches. In January, the area normally sees highs of 49, lows of 30 and an average precipitation of 4 inches. Then in February, things gradually begin to heat up with average high of 54, lows of 33 and an average precipitation of 4.47 inches.
Most of the Southeastern United States is typically favored for above normal temperatures, due to La Niña, the periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures, added Husted.
How will La Niña impact weather weather in Tennessee?
Low pressure systems generally move north of the area during La Niña conditions, which often keeps Tennessee in the area of warmer temperatures, providing fuel for thunderstorms, said Husted.
The probabilities for the Volunteer State to experience a major winter event like snow or ice are lower, however extreme winter events can never be ruled out. For example, the winters of 2022-2023 (a La Niña winter) and 2023-2024 both experienced above normal temperatures yet they still came with a “substantial” cold snap, said Husted.
“We all remember these single winter events but often forget how warm the rest of the winter is,” Husted told the Tennessean in an email. “… We speak in general terms for the season and are unable to predict single weather events and their exact timing until they have formed and are approaching us, usually a few days away.”
Will Nashville receive snow this winter?
It is currently impossible to predict how much snow Nashville will receive this season, said Husted. Based on previous snowfall events, Music City favors normal (4.7 inches) and below normal snowfall during La Niña winters.
The winters of 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 were all La Niña winters, and they received 5.2 inches of snow (near normal), 9.5 inches of snow (above normal) and 1.2 inches of snow (below normal), respectively.
How much snow did the Nashville area receive last winter?
In January, Nashville experienced record breaking snowfall, receiving its yearly average of snow in less than 24 hours. On Tuesday, Jan. 16, the weather service confirmed Nashville’s official snowfall accumulation was 7.6 inches, with the majority of it (6.3 inches) falling on Monday alone.
Surrounding areas were covered under an even thicker blanket of snow. Kingston Springs, Gallatin and Hendersonville received eight inches while Belle Meade, Berry HIll and Oak Hill received nine inches.
Record snowfall in Nashville? Music City surpasses yearly average in less than 24 hours
Nashville’s top five snowstorms:
- March 16-18, 1892: 17 inches
- Feb. 2-3, 1886: 16 inches
- Feb. 20-21, 1929: 15 inches
- Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 1951: 12 inches
- Feb. 6-9, 1979: 11 inches
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana
Tennessee
Tennessee baseball adds pitcher Ricky Ojeda, UC Irvine transfer
Tennessee baseball received a commitment from UC Irvine pitcher Ricky Ojeda on June 19.
Ojeda, who is eligible for the MLB draft in July, announced his decision on social media. He visited Tennessee on June 15-16.
The lefthanded Ojeda had a strong 2026 season primarily as a reliever, posting a 3.77 ERA with 62 strikeouts and 20 walks in 62 innings. In 2025, he became the first reliever to be named Big West Pitcher of the Year after going 13-1 with a 3.55 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 66 innings, which also earned him a third-team all-American nod from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game.
Whether Ojeda makes it to Tennessee remains an open question. Perfect Game ranked him as the No. 179 prospect for the draft. That would place him in the sixth round.
Should Ojeda join the staff, however, he would instantly become one of the team’s top options out of a bullpen that struggled immensely in 2026. The pitching staff is also under new leadership under pitching coach Austin Knight, who was hired from ECU.
Ojeda is the fourth player to announce they will transfer to Tennessee this offseason, joining two-way Mercer transfer Braydon Kersey, Northwestern State pitcher Brody Trosclair and Air Force infielder Wyatt Hanoian.
Who’s leaving Tennessee baseball
- UTL Jay Abernathy (Oklahoma)
- RHP Nic Abraham
- INF Ariel Antigua (Arizona)
- INF Finley Bates
- RHP Ari Bethea
- OF Hutson Chance
- RHP Sawyer Deering (San Diego State)
- OF Nate Eisfelder
- 1B Evan Hankins (Virginia Tech)
- UTL Hunter High
- RHP Brayden Krenzel (Arkansas)
- INF Manny Marin
- INF Ethan Moore (Missouri)
- UTL Chris Newstrom
- LHP Taylor Tracey
- C Cash Williams (West Virginia)
Who’s joining Tennessee baseball
- RHP/DH Braydon Kersey
- LHP Brody Trosclair
- INF Wyatt Hanoian
- LHP Ricky Ojeda
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
Tennessee
Shooting Hunger event aims to prevent childhood hunger in West Tennessee
JACKSON, Tenn. (WBBJ) – An exciting day of sporting clays in West Tennessee is doubling as a major fight against hunger.
Today’s “Shooting Hunger” event took place at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park in Huntingdon. It’s a partnership between Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farmers Co-Op, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural First.
Since 2015, Shooting Hunger has helped provide more than three million meals to Tennesseans with money going to food banks, backpack programs, and local hunger relief. A $500 scholarship will also go to the top youth shooter in each flight.
“We’re joining together to raise money for school backpacks to feed hungry kids. We do these, we actually do three of these across the state of Tennessee so at the end of the day we take, we take all the money we put it into a pile and when we divide equally amongst all 95 counties across the state of Tennessee,“ said Bryan Wright, executive vice president for the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
Organizers say events like this matter because one in six children in Tennessee struggle with hunger.
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Tennessee
Inside Tennessee 4×100 relay’s NCAA title, outlasting four botched exchanges
Tennessee director of track and field Duane Ross gauged the hunger of the men’s 4×100-meter relay team to pull off the upset.
“They said, ‘Coach, we’re going to win,’ ” Ross said. “When they bring you that much confidence, you can grab your popcorn and enjoy the meet.”
No popcorn was consumed, but the appetite was there from the start.
Traunard Folson, Davonte Howell, T’Mars McCallum and Elijah Clark finished in a school record time of 37.98 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 12 in Eugene, Oregon. It was the the program’s first national title in the 4×100 since 1983 and the fourth-fastest in NCAA history.
Four other relay teams never crossed the line. Auburn, the two-time defending champion, had run an NCAA-record 37.75 in the semifinal, but had a botched handoff on the last exchange. Arkansas, the reigning SEC champion, also dropped its baton, along with Oregon and Houston.
McCallum said staying clean through a race of chaos starts with a focus on winning, even in practice.
“In the moment we can’t really worry about anything else, just what we can control,” McCallum said on June 18. “We came to practice every time with the idea of, ‘OK, we’ve got to make sure this is fixed, because we know if we run that time, we can win.’ “
It was the final event of McCallum’s college career. It didn’t fully hit until the long flight home to Knoxville.
“I was like, we really did it,” he said. “Now we have a school record, the first team to ever go under 38 seconds here.”
Whether belief had anything to do with what went wrong in those four other lanes isn’t something Tennessee’s runners can answer. It’s exactly what they point to for why theirs didn’t.
Clark, a freshman who ran the anchor leg, said winning was just a matter of starting the race.
“We knew we had it the whole time,” he said. “No matter who did what, what happened, we knew what the outcome would come to.”
Ross said the victory wasn’t a surprise inside the program either.
“I wouldn’t say unsung,” Ross said. “I’ve watched this team all year long, and we were expecting to come out of there with the championship. It was a tight competition down to the last event.”
Tennessee finished third in the men’s team standings with 46 points, its best total since 2002.
Howell, a junior who ran the second leg, said the belief behind the relay team’s confidence was built long before the race.
“Three of the four of us already ran under 10 seconds,” he said. “Last year we all trained together during the summer, all lived together. We already had the bond, and adding the freshman on anchor was just a cherry on top. He figured it out at SECs, ran a 10.1, season’s best, and we trusted him to bring it home.”
Clark said the title is already part of something bigger to him.
“The goal is to always make history,” said Clark, who was hired by Tennessee four years ago after a successful run at North Carolina A&T. “It’s been one of my dreams. To be able to be on the wall, especially at a school like this, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
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