Meteorologist Ben Cathey

Lot of folks are chiming in that they have not heard a bobwhite covey in decades. The birds are trying to regain a foothold (talon-hold?) in our Tennessee scrubland and artificial intelligence is playing a large role.

Check out the story photojournalist Scott Wilk and I put together.

Tennessee quail making a comeback with an unexpected ally Artificial intelligence is used to sort through hundreds of hours of audio recordings, finding where our rare wild quail are hiding.

New law: rainy days and cold Sundays require Bolt to sleep in.

All those in favor…

Watching this strong and severe storm pushing thru Hardin valley and Solway. This is moving towards Karns and Powell. Some signs of rotation in the cell.

This includes near downtown Nashville. Let your people know asap

**THIS WARNING HAS EXPIRED**

**TORNADO WARNING including NASHVILLE TN., Goodlettsville TN and Greenbrier TN until 4:45 PM CST** This is a CONFIRMED tornado with a history of producing damage. SEEK SHELTER NOW!!
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM!!

TORNADO WATCH: now posted for Cumberland, Fentress, and McCreary Counties. This goes through 12E/11C tonight. Note that there is no immediate risk of tornadoes but the ingredients are there in these specific counties.

We First Alerted you to the severe risk in these very specific counties a few days ago. Hopefully this is not a surprise. Be safe friends!

West Tennessee Tornado Emergency:

Just south of Martin, there’s a confirmed extremely dangerous tornado. This is pushing NE at 50 mph. If you have friends or family in this part of Tennessee, let them know.

This individual storm is NOT a threat for East Tennessee but we will have thunderstorms late tonight.

Wowza! What a sunset at Zoo Knoxville. The sun is filtering through the high clouds. Those clouds are here in front of rain that is returning in just about 12 hours (early-to-mid Saturday morning).

There’s no place like home

I’m back in the office tonight, excited to show you the weather story. That’s on the heels of a quick visit to see my folks - just east on I-40. This was my “Thanksgiving” with the family and I was able to help mom and dad around the house. It was looking like winter when I made the drive back.

GOOD NEWS: Drought is working its way out, following two weeks of big rains. Many - but not all - spots in East Tennessee are down a full category of drought. We still have room for more rain (due this weekend) and the deficit is greatest right on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau.

Good morning! Check out the snow!! Newfound Gap is reporting 2.4" of snow so far. More could fall throughout the day!

SUNDAY SNACKS DOUBLE TROUBLE:

I made some farm eggs over easy with a twist. I watched a video of a cook putting down a layer of Romano cheese in a skillet and letting it get melty crispy. You crack the eggs over that and baste it with butter.

After that, the hash browns (shout out to Trader Joes Knoxville Tn) were browned in some duck fat. Yep. Tasty!

The messy pizza slice came from A Dopo Sourdough Pizza near downtown Knoxville. This was their Rome-style pie. Fresh cheese and a creamy vodka sauce.

Now back to weather posts!

Tons of rain today. This will be very beneficial to easing many of our counties to a lower level of drought.

Still some heavy... drizzle rolling through Knoxville at the evening rush on the roads. Most of the other rain has moved on, but returns in a hurry for your Saturday.

Sun. Fog. City. Check out the stunning view from Gatlinburg Friday afternoon. There are holes in the clouds, following some lighter rain (remember the Foothills were advertised to get less rain). The parade is just hours away!

We had the coldest weather (for many) since February 4th, but there’s plenty of beauty to be found in frozen Tenneseee.

🎼Hold on for one more day!

I have this last spray rose flower on my front porch - but tonight could be the coldest of the season. Worth clipping the flower? Or will that damage the plant that’s already stressed?

Loving the rise of the Beaver Moon over Gatlinburg. It's so orange-y

It's a snowglobe up on LeConte. The combination of powdery snow and rime ice made for a scene straight out of a Christmas movie.

SUNDAY SNACKS: aloo matar with leftovers. We had a TON of green peas leftover from the WVLT Thanksgiving meal. I’m grateful we had fresh and hot food for the holiday. Not everyone can say the same - something that is not lost on me.

I try to keep food waste at a minimum so I repurposed some peas for this Indian curry. Typically this has potatoes. Well: I’ve had a lot of potato the last four days. I swapped in some rice and added some plain yogurt to cut the heat. Delish!

What a shot from Elaine!

Let's talk turkey! CBS Sunday Morning takes us, well, here for their video series. These are the wild turkey of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Nature: Wild turkeys in Tennessee On the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, we visit with rare "smoke phase" turkeys at - where else? - Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Vide...

On this date in Vol Football History (part one), November 25, 1950, A very unusual November six-inch snowfall took place, and temperatures would fall to 18 degrees by game time with Kentucky. Vols head coach General Neyland said “It will be extremely difficult to remove the snow prior to tomorrow’s game,” he said via the newspaper. “It will be utterly impossibly to remove the snow from the 51,000 seats now provided for in the stadium. Under these circumstances, it will be difficult for customers to find to the necessity of sitting and standing in the snow.” The next days game would face Bear Bryant and the #3 Wildcats against the #9 Vols and General Robert Neyland.

Check out the Cliff's Notes forecast for the upcoming week. As we don't have early local news on Black Friday (we start at 7:30 p.m. on WVLT) I wanted you to get a glimpse at what is ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’re blessed with a lot of rime ice, visible as the sea of fog retreats in the Smokies. One view is from LeConte Lodge and the other shot of evergreens is from Clingmans Dome.

Enjoy!