NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville Electric Service (NES) was preparing for a snowstorm until a day and a half before last weekend's devastating winter weather hit Middle Tennessee, according to CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin on Friday. That's even as meteorologists had been warning about the possibility of ice for days before that.
The revelation comes as Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell announced Monday he's forming a commission to investigate the utility's response to the storm that left hundreds of thousands without power.
"I will tell you with this storm, it did shift; we were expecting to get a snowstorm with a little bit of ice up until about a day and a half before it came into our service territory," Broyles-Aplin said Friday at a press conference. "So it went from getting a little bit of snow to getting an enormous amount of ice that blanketed our entire service territory at that point that our team learned — they had staged for a snowstorm."
If NES was staging for snow until 36 hours before the storm hit Saturday morning, that timeline puts their preparation shift to around Thursday night.
But meteorologists had been warning about ice potential much earlier.
The National Weather Service posted on Facebook Wednesday morning about "increasing concern for freezing rain" in the forecast.
NewsChannel 5's Storm 5 Weather Team meteorologists had been discussing ice possibilities since Tuesday morning.
"Going through Saturday evening, we're starting to see more of a wintry mix down to the south," Storm 5 meteorologist Nikki-Dee Ray said during Tuesday's 6 a.m. newscast.
By Tuesday evening, Storm 5 meteorologist Brittany Rainey was warning about "icing concerns especially for our areas south of I-40."
Wednesday brought stronger warnings about ice from the Storm 5 Weather Team.
"Some of the models are indicating a little bit more of that sleet and freezing rain trying to mix in versus this time yesterday," Storm 5 meteorologist Lelan Statom said Wednesday morning.
Nikki-Dee emphasized the danger that morning: "We're talking sleet, freezing rain, freezing rain is heavy as can be, so that does cause power outages."
By Wednesday evening, Storm 5 meteorologist Katie Melvin said: "I'm hopeful we can get just some snowfall out of this, but realistically we have a really good chance of ice mixing in as well."
Ice accumulation is far more damaging to power infrastructure than snow, as the weight can snap power lines and bring down trees onto electrical equipment.
Line workers continue working around the clock to restore power, and their efforts are appreciated throughout the community. But as Nashville examines how to better prepare for future storms, the timeline of weather warnings versus utility preparation becomes a critical piece of the accountability puzzle.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to NES for clarification on Broyles-Aplin's statement about staging for a snowstorm until 36 hours before the event. The utility responded by saying it is looking into our request and will get back to us, but did not offer an immediate response.
What questions do you want us to ask NES as power restoration continues across middle Tennessee? Email me at jason.lamb@newschannel5.com and I will ask those questions to NES officials.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Jason Lamb. When using this tool, both Jason and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team checked all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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