First snow of 2024 blankets Nashville area as frigid weather settles in across Middle Tennessee

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The scrunch of steps across packed powder could be heard across Middle Tennessee on Monday as the first snow storm of 2024 laid a white blanket over a frigid Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

For the first time this year there was scraping of car windshields, shoveling of snow, sledding down city scape slopes. Scarves, hats, gloves and sturdy boots were pulled out of closets for the first time in about a year.

Cars slid sideways. Children threw snowballs. Dogs dipped their noses in fresh powder. Residents took Instagram photos of leaning snowmen.

Temperatures hovered around 12 degrees for much of the day.

The concern, of course, was an even colder snap in the days ahead. Predictions call for single digit temperatures. Icy roadways, power outages and burst pipes suddenly moved to the front of everyone's minds.

More than four inches of snow fell in several regions of Middle Tennessee — and more in some areas. As of midday Monday, power outages were not a problem, and roads were, for the most part, passable but treacherous.

Schools closed across the region

Even before the snow arrived, word came that many of the region's school districts — including Metro Nashville and Rutherford, Robertson, Sumner, Wilson, Williamson and Clarksville-Montgomery County, among many more — would be closed starting Tuesday, answering the prayers of some children across the region.

Over in Bellevue, over 20 cars could be seen lining the steep entry of an apartment complex as drivers abandoned their vehicles following unsuccessful attempts to climb up the snow-covered hillside. 

Some vehicles had been left overnight, with residents making the trek to their apartments, while more cars joined the chaotic pile up every minute.

Elijah Clark, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he left his Honda Civic in the center of the road, told The Tennessean he'd "only gone out for a few minutes."

"We're stuck stuck," he laughed. "I left this morning and went to a friends house to drop off a guitar. The drive there was easy and I came back hoping I could make it up the hill — front wheel drive and all that — and it did not work out. It did not work out at all."

For some, Nashville gets a dose of 'real snow'

Chris and Lesli Weeks, 56 and 53, respectively, were walking along Watsonwood Drive in Nashville a little after 11 a.m. Monday. They moved here from Fort Worth, Texas, in September. They’d get some snow there, but “not the accumulation like this,” Chris said.

They were walking with their dogs, Lexie and Noodles, wearing green and pink sweaters.“This is really neat, because you don't see this as much when you're in South like this, right?” Chris Weeks said.Lesli Weeks said that Chris, who is originally from Boston, joked that that he considers this “real snow.”

The couple said they went sledding for a few minutes before handing it off to “the experts, the young kids down the street.”

Chris Nonn was sledding with his wife and their five kids around 11 a.m. Monday. They live on Ashwood Avenue in the Belmont Hillsboro neighborhood.Nonn is accustomed to the snow, being from outside Madison, Wisconsin. His twins — turning 3 years old in March — not so much.The family took a few trips down the hill on Ashwood, which was blocked off by a combination of orange traffic cones and homemade signs placed there by neighbors. A few other families mingled there, marching slowly up the hill between trips down.“Not much changes for us this week,” said Nonn, who works from home. The family moved to the neighborhood in August. “We’re just happy to get out and enjoy the snow.”

Fluffy, white snow filled the tops of their two girls' boots as they trudged up the hill a Cheatham County, to the top of their neighbor's yard.

In the frigid weather Monday morning, 13-year-old Lily and 9-year-old Violet Buntin screamed and giggled as they careened down the slope, tumbling into the snow-covered, slushy road below.

With one slick, green sled between them, one waited and watched from the top of the slope as the other plunged down into the bank.

Jeremy Malais in Lebanon’s Spence Creek neighborhood was putting wood into a firepit with his kids with plans to set up a hot chocolate stand for the neighborhood.

“It’s just like a special day with the kids, they are enjoying it and want to kind of make it memorable for them and just give back to the community,” Malais said.

Lots of kids were getting into the fun.

“I love the snow, it just needs to be a little more sticky,” said Aiden Rexroat, 13, as he was involved in sledding and trying to pack a snowball in Lebanon’s Spence Creek neighborhood.

Craig Shoup, Andy Humbles, Molly Davis and Kirsten Fiscus contributed to this report.