President Donald Trump granted Tennessee’s request for an emergency declaration, the state of Tennessee said in a news release Saturday, Jan. 24.

The state submitted the request to the White House and Federal Emergency Management Agency ahead of the winter storm. The declaration will help the state receive federal assistance with the storm.

Icy weather ‘real threat to the electric system,’ MLGW head says as winter storm hits Memphis

On Friday, Memphis Mayor Paul Young declared a state of emergency for the city. 

The state of emergency will last for seven days — and may be extended in seven-day increments. The emergency declaration allows the city to seek reimbursement for emergency expenses incurred during the storm scheduled to hit Memphis this weekend.

Memphis continued to wait for the winter storm’s full effects Saturday afternoon as leaders remained apprehensive about the arrival of freezing rain that is expected to last through the night. 

Memphis city officials reported relatively benign effects from the winter storm during an afternoon news conference as power outages remained almost minimal. 

City of Memphis Public Works Director Scott Morgan said the city had almost plowed every priority street twice. (It remained working on Lamar Avenue’s first plow run.) He said the coming freezing rain could pose further challenges for plowing and road navigability. 

Memphis Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said all three utilities — water, gas and electric — remained fully functional. The utility’s outage map showed 42 outages at 3 p.m. 

This article includes information about services updates, warming centers, parks and library closures, school closures and other weather information for Memphis and the Mid-South. It will be updated regularly. 

More information is available on the City of Memphis winter-weather update site.

Schools

Public school systems across Shelby County began announcing Saturday that classes are canceled for Monday.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools campuses will be closed Monday, Jan. 26, due to the winter storm. The school district also canceled all events scheduled for the weekend. Charter schools make their own decisions about school closures.

If you were planning to fly out of Memphis International Airport today, don’t bother, as officials said Saturday, Jan. 24, that all departing flights have been canceled due to the winter storm.

Although the airport officially remains open, the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint is closed, as are all concessions, officials said.

One single flight is still on the schedule to arrive late Saturday, airport spokesman Glen Thomas said, but that one could still be canceled.

“While the airport remains open and crews continue work to keep runways and surface areas clear of snow and ice, airlines have cancelled all remaining departing flights today,” airport officials said in a statement. “For this reason, the airport recommends that passengers avoid traveling to the airport today.” 

Don’t be fooled by what looks like a pretty snowfall outside this morning, the National Weather Service said Saturday morning, Jan. 24.

Yes, about an inch of snow fell in Memphis overnight, but so did around an inch of sleet.

And while you may not be able to see that the sleet is continuing to fall, you can hear it as it smacks the trees, house and car.

With the temperatures below freezing, that sleet is turning to ice when it hits the ground.

Memphis emergency officials cautioned Saturday morning that the full effect of the winter storm would not be felt until later in the day. 

Memphis’ leaders, along with everyone else, are waiting to see how much ice accumulates when the precipitation transitions from sleet to freezing rain Saturday afternoon. During an 8 a.m. news conference, they told residents to stay off the roads and remain vigilant. 

“Ice remains the real threat to the electric system,” Memphis Light, Gas and Water head Doug McGowen said. “We are still forecast to get — in the majority of the MLGW service area — below one quarter of an inch of ice. That would result in spotty outages due to down limbs and individual lines. ... Under a quarter of an inch should not be widespread impacts. Between a quarter and a half (inch), we should expect some outages, and if it does change to go to more than a 0.5 inches, that’s what we would expect to have some larger impacts.”

Angie Shelton, the city’s deputy management director, said after the precipitation stops this weekend, bitter temperatures are expected and could add further danger to residents. The unknown variable remains the ice. 

To those of us hoping for a big snowfall this weekend, the National Weather Service has some bad news.

Most of what is expected to fall from the heavens this weekend will be sleet, and lots of it, perhaps as much as three inches.

In fact, National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Chiuppi used the word “unprecedented” to describe the amount of sleet that is expected to begin falling late Friday, Jan. 23, and continue all day Saturday.

“I know most people want to see snow, but really at this point it looks like it’s going to be sleet and the sleet is going to be especially impactful,” he said. “This amount of sleet is just kind of unprecedented. … I don’t think many of us have seen this much sleet all at once in our lives before, so it’s kind of a unique situation.”

Memphis Mayor Paul Young declared a state of emergency on Friday, Jan. 23. 

The state of emergency will last for seven days — and may be extended in seven-day increments. The emergency declaration allows the city to seek reimbursement for emergency expenses incurred during the storm scheduled to hit Memphis this weekend. 

The state of emergency makes it easier for the City of Memphis government to spend money to deal with the storm, waives certain contracting rules and makes it easier to rent equipment or employ permanent or temporary workers, according to the state law that authorizes municipalities to declare states of emergency.