Cincinnati: March 15 to March 16
The weather while in Cincinnati was slightly warmer than Wisconsin weather with temperatures in the forties. Skies were sunny during the day but wind kept the days cool. Western winds of around 11.0 mph blew on Thursday, March 15th and northeast winds at about 8 mph blew on Friday. Clear night skies made for morning temperatures close to freezing. The daily summaries of weather conditions for the two days is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Daily weather summaries for Thursday, March 15th and Friday, March 16th
in Cincinnati, OH.
In Cincinnati, OH the Geography 368 class visited the Underground Railroad Museum and learned about gentrification in the developing neighborhoods surrounding the city. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the weather conditions as they were experienced on these days. In Figure 2 it can be seen that everyone in the class is in winter jackets because it was cold in Cincinnati. Also a flag blowing in the wind shows how windy it was on this day. In Figure 3 it is shown how cloud covered and overcast the skies were in our days in Cincinnati.
Figure 2. The Geography 368 class in Cincinnati posed with a statue of a pig on display along the Ohio River bank on Friday, March 16th.
Figure 3. The Geography 368 class posing with an art display in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, March 16th. The Underground Rail Road Museum is the brown building seen in the back center of the image.
Chattanooga: March 17 to March 21
The weather while in Chattanooga was wet with some limited sun. Scattered thunderstorms and rain showers were common in the area during the trip as shown in Figure 4.. The nicest day of the trip was Sunday, March 18th because there was no rain and temperatures were warm enough to not need a jacket. Rain jackets were worn and spitting rain was experienced for a significant amount of the trip. The heaviest rain showers were experienced on Monday, March 19th. The storm consisted of very clouded skies that prevented the group from getting to go to the top of Lookout Mountain due to the fact nothing would be visible at the bottom of the mountain from the top. There would have been no view. We were able to get the view the next day after the majority of the storm cleared.
Figure 4. Daily weather summaries for Saturday, March 17th through Wednesday, March 21st
in Chattanooga, TN.
In Chattanooga, TN the Geography 368 class visited the Chattanooga Aquarium, Art Museum, battlefield of the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, the TVA to discuss using LiDAR for power line instalations, a TVA dam and the top of Lookout Mountain. There were several other things completed but these were the main highlights of these five days. Figure 5 and Figure 6 are from Sunday, March 18th. In Figure 5 clear sunny skies can be seen with no clouds. All of the students are in t-shirts and shorts. This was the warmest day of the trip. Figure 6 was taken later in the day and it can be seen that could cover moved in during the day with the overcast sky in the image. Temperatures remained warm however through the day. Wednesday, March 21st was spent touring the TVA Dam shown in Figure 7. It can be seen in the image the heavy could cover. This day was very cold to be outside, especially standing on top of the dam where wind speeds were higher. A picture of the view from Lookout Mountain is shown in Figure 8. The class went to the top of lookout mountain on Tuesday, March 20th. As shown in the picture there were still overcast skies, but the rain and thunderstorms had cleared enough to see the view below.
Figure 5. The Geography 368 class outside of the Tennessee Aquarium on Sunday, March 18th.
Figure 6. Geography 368 students debriefing after the day at the aquarium and art museum in a local park on Sunday, March 18th.
Figure 7. TVA Dam we toured on Wednesday, March 21st.
Figure 8. The view from the top of lookout mountain, taken on Tuesday March 20th.
Knoxville: March 22 to March 24
The weather in Knoxville while we were there was cooler than Chattanooga, but still pleasant. Friday, March 23 the weather we experienced contradicts that in the weather report in Figure 9. We did not experience any rain, we had an overcast day. Tour guides we had in Knoxville said that the days we were there were the coldest days they had had in weeks. The weather we experienced the few days we were in the area were not typical spring weather days in Knoxville.
Figure 9. Daily weather summaries for Thursday, March 22nd through Saturday, March 24th
in Knoxville, TN.
In Knoxville the Geography 368 class toured the geography department at the University of Tennessee: Knoxville, toured the history museum of Eastern Tennessee, and visited Smokey Mountain National Park. The class went to the Smokey Mountain National Park on Friday, March 23rd. Pictures from the part are in Figure 10 and Figure 11. The weather report above in Figure 9 states there was rain on this day, but there was no rain experienced by the class on this day in the park. Instead there were just overcast skies shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11. In Figure 10 it can be seen that there was snow at the higher elevations in the park and no snow in the lower elevations in the lower elevations of the park shown in Figure 11. Elevation played a big difference in temperature in the park.
Figure 10. The Smokey Mountains in Smokey Mountain National Park on Friday, March 23rd.
Figure 11. The Geography 368 class posing at the entrance of the Smokey Mountain National Park on Friday, March 23rd.
Saturday, March 24th was a travel day heading back to Eau Claire. In the morning in Knoxville there was raining thunderstorms. We had to take a different route than originally planned to take home due to winter storm Uma. We rerouted to not take a path cutting back through Ohio and Indiana as that was the exact placement of the winter storm shown in Figure 12. We instead took a route from Knoxville to Nashville and moved North through Illinois. We could not completely avoid the storm because we had to cross it at some point to head north towards Eau Claire. Below in Figure 13 and Figure 14 the winter storm from the view in the car driving through can be seen. Visibility and road conditions were terrible. Over 30 cars and 8 semis were seen in the ditch. The Illinois part of the storm averaged 12 inches of snow fall.
Figure 12. The snowfall accumulation of winter storm Uma on Saturday, March 24th.
Figure 13. View of the snowfall coming down from inside the car as driving through Illinois on Saturday, March 24th.
Figure 14. The bad viability and road conditions while driving through winter storm Uma in Illinois on Saturday, March 24th.
