MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A real taste of winter weather kicked off the new year as below freezing temperatures, ice and snow moved into Tennessee Thursday morning.
Sherry Sturm lives in Tipton County, and she is worried that road conditions have gotten worse since she left home. She was clearing snow off of her car for the second time Thursday afternoon and was trying to get away from her Covington office as early as possible.
“When I left the house this morning, it was kind of clear in front of the house,” Sturm said. “But when I hit the road, it started looking kind of bad.’
Crews with Covington’s Street Department spread rock salt by hand and used a front end loader to clear ice and snow from city streets.
Covington’s fire chief and assistant chief hit the streets to report conditions to the Mayor and the public through social media, urging everyone to stay inside and be patient in an emergency.
“The slick streets are definitely a challenge,” fire chief Richard Griggs said. “Our response times may be delayed, just depending on where you are.”
Meantime, people like Tim Pugh took advantage of any break in the snow to get to Walmart.
“Trying to get some last minute groceries ’cause it might be bad tomorrow,” Pugh said. “Some meat, lunch meat and breakfast food, bacon. You know, all that kind of stuff.”
For other shoppers, it is a matter of trying to make sense of the weather.
“It’s just crazy how it goes from hot to cold,” Anna Gray said. “It’s just constantly changing, going back and forth.”
Drivers are warned to be extra cautious when traveling, especially on county roads.
While TDOT has treated and scraped many state-maintained roadways, temperatures right now are below freezing, and that means hazardous conditions.