The Smoky Mountain Dome
Sunday, August 16, 2026 · 12:12 PM
Watch and listen
Lyrics
Dangerous heat is expected through Monday with triple digit heat indices across most of Middle Tennessee. This is resulting in major to extreme risk for heat-related illnesses. Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself and loved ones from this oppressive heat. Medium storm chances on Monday may bring a damaging wind risk during the afternoon and evening hours, especially to areas east of Interstate sixty-five. Extreme heat and humidity should be out of Middle Tennessee by late week. The upper air flights revealed the ancient sign At two hundred fifty millibars the heavens align A giant ridge sits high above the mountain range The prophecy decreed the climate would not change Subsidence crushing down upon the burning ground No cooler air at night is ever to be found Upper seventies for the midnight low The furnace keeps its unrelenting glow From seven P.M. the advisory takes its hold A dark impending tragedy foretold Surface based energy builds to two thousand joules The sun will make us suffer, turning men to fools! The ancient doom is written in the atmosphere! The front approaches with the hour of fear! Four P.M. to eight P.M. the dark forces swarm! We burn beneath the sky so dark and torn! All hail the Smoky Mountain dome! Monday brings the double-edged sword of fate Damaging winds across the Plateau wait Zero shear to hold the dying sky in place But forcing drives the tempest to erase East of Interstate sixty-five the shadows grow The prophecy fulfilled in the evening blow! The ancient doom is written in the atmosphere! The front approaches with the hour of fear! Four P.M. to eight P.M. the dark forces swarm! We burn beneath the sky so dark and torn! All hail the Smoky Mountain dome! Two thousand joules per kilogram! The prophecy fulfilled across the land! Four P.M. to eight P.M.! Bow down to the Smoky Mountain dome!
The forecast discussion
KEY MESSAGES
Updated at 1210 PM CDT Sun Aug 16 2026
- Dangerous heat is expected through Monday with triple digit heat indices across most of Middle Tennessee.
This is resulting in major to extreme risk for heat-related illnesses.
Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself and loved ones from this oppressive heat.
- Medium storm chances on Monday may bring a damaging wind risk during the afternoon and evening hours, especially to areas east of I-65.
- Extreme heat and humidity should be out of Middle TN by late week.
SHORT TERM
(Rest of today through Monday) Issued at 1107 AM CDT Sun Aug 16 2026
Another scorcher is underway across Middle TN. This morning's upper air flights depicted a large 250 mb ridge over the Great Smoky Mountains.
This is effectively creating a "heat dome" with subsidence trapping hot, moist air at the surface, resulting in dangerous heat indices for Middle TN. Expect another day of widespread heat indices above 105F today, maybe even hitting 110F in some areas with more urban sprawl.
As such, the Extreme Heat Warning is in effect through 7PM tonight.
Once that expires at 7PM, it will be immediately replaced by an areawide Heat Advisory through 7PM Monday.
We'll barely get any relief overnight tonight with lows in the upper 70s.
The upper level ridge will still be in place tomorrow, but gradually moderating back to more zonal flow, warranting one more day of heat headlines.
Tomorrow should be the last day of extreme heat for several days.
The cold front relieving us from the heat will be a double-edged sword tomorrow/Monday night.
It also brings a threat of severe weather to areas east of I-65. Instability will be plentiful under a day of full sun and humidity prior to the front's arrival.
The 16/12Z HREF suggests SBCAPE on the order of 2000 J/kg during the frontal passage between about 4PM and 8PM Monday.
While there is very little shear to hold everything together, a strongly unstable environment with a cold front moving through will still have the forcing needed to produce damaging wind gusts.
The bulk of the severe weather threat is over east Tennessee (where the best overlap of favorable ingredients is), but still expect to see a few hours of strong to severe storms mainly over the Plateau tomorrow afternoon and evening.
LONG TERM
(Monday Night through next Sunday) Issued at 1107 AM CDT Sun Aug 16 2026
Behind the front on Tuesday, temperatures and resultant heat indices take a dip back toward normal.
Keep in mind that it's still mid August, so "normal" is still hot, around 90 degrees.
This relief will be short-lived due to a warm front lifting across the state on Wednesday, bringing us right back up to borderline Heat Advisory criteria.
It's too early to make that call right now, but we may just skirt by without heat headlines on Wednesday.
The majority of the warm front's impact will be felt over West Tennessee with heat indices around 105 toward the TN River, but it will be close.
The pattern finally starts to mediate back toward climatological normals at the end of the week.
By Thursday, zonal flow aloft will help send heat and humidity well below headline thresholds.
By Friday, expect heat indices below 100 degrees areawide for the first time in over a week.
This cooler trend continues through next weekend.