**Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect for all of E TN until 6 AM EDT. Tornado Watch in effect for SE KY until 4 AM EDT. These are WATCHES which means you need to be prepared. Take action and move to your safe place if a WARNING is issued overnight.**
A strong cold front will be sliding into the Southeast tonight, bringing a line of strong to severe storms.
POTENTIAL IMPACTS: Damaging wind, large hail (up to ping pong ball size), and isolated tornadoes are all possible.
TIMING: Strong to severe storms are expected to arrive onto the Plateau between midnight and 2 a.m., into the Valley between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. and into our eastern areas by around 4 a.m. As of now, it looks like the severe weather threat will decrease after 5 a.m. with just spotty showers lingering into Thursday morning.
You need to have multiple ways to receive your weather alerts.
The NOAA Weather Radio is your greatest tool as it is the voice of the National Weather Service. It stays quiet until a warning is issued for your county. Weather radios are made by a number of manufacturers and you can find them sold at many popular retailers such as Walmart, Target, as well as in the utility aisles of some grocery stores. You can find the list of NOAA Weather Radio stations in East Tennessee here: https://www.weather.gov/mrx/nwr
There are multiple other ways to receive weather alerts, including the free WBIR Weather app (Apple, Google Play) and the WBIR news app.
Nearly all smart phones are equipped to receive emergency alerts issued from the National Weather Service automatically, but you should check to ensure those alerts are enabled in your phone's notification settings. Also be sure to charge your phones up this evening to ensure you can continue receiving alerts overnight should the power go out.
RELATED: WBIR has a new app! Download it here
LATEST FORECAST: WBIR Weather page
