Frightful Halloween forecast: Rain, lows in 30s ahead for Chattanooga, but snow?

Trick-or-treat forecast• Trick or treaters can expect scattered showers all afternoon until 7 p.m.• After the drizzle stops, strong winds traveling up to 20 mph are expected to whip through the Tennessee Valley all night.• Temperatures are predicted to reach the low 30s before sunrise Saturday morning.

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The weather forecast for Halloween was scary enough, but the buzz about the chance for snow today is downright frightening.

Chattanooga will experience a weather whiplash today, with early week 80-degree highs and sunshine giving way to scattered showers, whipping winds of up to 20 mph after 7 p.m., and temperatures dropping from the mid-50s to the low 40s between 5 p.m. and midnight, reaching the low 30s by sunrise.

A deep low-pressure system traveling southward from the Great Lakes is generating a storm that will cause strong winds and falling temperatures across the Midwest and carry heavy moisture into Kentucky and West Virginia, with Tennessee and North Carolina and parts of Georgia receiving the tail end of the storm, according to the National Weather Service.

Winter storm watches and warnings have been issued for many areas.

The Weather Service says portions of the Smokies could receive a foot of snow, and a light snowfall is expected on the Cumberland Plateau. A winter storm watch is in effect for the mountains in East Tennessee. Elevations above 2,500 feet throughout the region are being advised to prepare for at least a couple of inches of snow.

Weather models show the storm stopping just northeast of Chattanooga, but that hasn't hushed chatter about snow.

David Hotz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn., said Halloween's scattered rain showers are expected to taper off by 7 p.m., before the temperature moves toward freezing.

Hotz said snow cannot be ruled out for Chattanooga and the surrounding mountains, but he does not expect any.

"Any snow would be unusual," said Hotz.

How unusual?

According to The Weather Warehouse, an online weather database used by NWS, an October snowfall in Chattanooga hasn't been recorded since their records began in 1928.

Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com.

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