KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — This year's Christmas forecast is not like the forecast Knoxville saw last year. Temperatures are expected to reach highs in the middle-to-upper 60s, dropping to the upper 40s Christmas night.
It's nothing like last year when a Christmas snowstorm swept through the area and covered much of the city in a blanket of white frost. In 2020, families across East Tennessee woke up Christmas morning as if they were in a fairy tale, with snowflakes drifting across the area brisk winds howling as they opened presents.
For many people though, it wasn't holly or jolly. Fallen trees knocked out power in many counties, affecting more than 44,000 people. Many people spent all of Christmas Day without power, stuck at home as many roads turned to ice rinks.
"I just set there hoping it comes back on," said Hope Lane.
"I put a lot of covers on because I don't have a fireplace," Sherman Wilson said.
That didn't stop some people from having fun in the snow last year.
Outside of the cities, mountaintops were also capped with snow. The Wartburg Police Department in Morgan County filmed it, showing off the area's surrounding mountain range after several inches fell overnight Christmas Eve.
Sherman Wilson had spent the day passing out wood to burn for his neighbors, shielding them from windchills that brought temperatures down under 20 degrees.
"I just deliver wood to the people that can't afford it, or that can't get any wood to them," Wilson said.
Wilson said that the situation wasn't easy, but they would be okay.
"It's hard, it's tough but we'll make it. We're survivors," he said.
This year, families in East Tennessee are expected to have a more typical kind of Christmas morning. There is a chance for light rain. Without a Christmas miracle, there is no chance it will turn to snow.