This will be the final update on our roundup of low temperatures this morning. In this early afternoon update, we have added several reports and also changed a few of the hourly reporting stations that only report lows at 6 am and noon. At times, the final low may occur between 6 am 7 am. 17 was the final low at Birmingham…unchanged from the 6 am report.
Looks like the official low of 8 above zero will be the coldest in Alabama this morning. It was recorded at Belle Mina, near the Tennessee River NE of Decatur. It is an official NWS report. We will post a final update around 12:15 pm.
17 HOURS BELOW FREEZING
The official Birmingham Airport temperature slid below freezing shortly after 6 o’clock last evening and finally recovered to freeing at 11 this morning. That is almost 17 hours in a row below freezing. Victor Cohen, 33/40 Skywatcher for Greystone Farms has temperatures below freezing for 17 hours and 34 minutes. Up in North Alabama, there were even longer periods below freezing.
ABC 33/40 SKYCAMS
16 at Cullman, Inverness and Downtown Birmingham
22 at Demopolis
15 at Gadsden
26 on the beach at Gulf Shores
14 at Hamilton
18 at Jasper
12 atop Mt. Cheaha (at one time early today, wind chill -7)
19 at Tuscaloosa (Barometer up to 30.77 inches)
ALABAMA
8 above zero at Belle Mina
10 at Monrovia (NW of Huntsville and north of Madison)
11 in West Trussville and Hamilton, Gurley (on Steele Mountain) and in SE Franklin County (wind chill 0-5)
12 at Union Grove, Owens Crossroads, Vinemont and in Bankhead National Forest, Eva and Black Creek
13 at Crossville and Cullman Agricultural Stations, Gaylesville, Trussville and on Straight Mountain, near Oneonta
14 in Hanceville, Russellville, Huntsville, Decatur, Russell Cave National Moun., Fayette, Crossville and Desoto State Park, Heflin (NWS)
15 in Greystone Farms, Pinson, Scottsboro, Kimberly, Fayette, Muscle Shoals, Nocallula Falls (wind chill 4) and Trussville
16 in Roanoke, Jasper (15.5) Oxford, Ashville, Fort Payne Airport, Cullman Airport and Heflin
17 in Arab, Fyffe, Madison, Guntersville, Anniston Airport, Saginaw, Moody, Greystone Cove, West Hueytown, Birmingham Airport, Alabaster Highland and Alabaster (Najho Pines) and Cottondale
18 in Helena, Meridianville, Crestline (corrected from 17) and East Trussville
19 at Tuscaloosa Airport, Scottsboro Airport, Horseshoe Bend, Albertville, Helena and at Shelby County Airport (NWS)
20 in Livingston, Childersburg, Wadley, Verbena and Montgomery
21 in Selma and Montgomery
22 at Evergreen
24 at Mobile Regional Airport
REGIONAL AND NATIONAL REPORTS
9 above zero at Henderson, Tenn., Holly Springs, Miss.
10 in Jonesboro, Ark. and Briston, Tenn.
11 in Gatlinburg
1 above zero on Newfound Gap with 2 inches of snow
12 in Cades Cove
7 below zero atop Mt. LeConte with 5 inches of snow
1 below zero at Beech Mountain, N.C. with 3 inches of snow.
7 below zero at Mt. Mitchell, N.C. with 1 inch of snow*
9 at Boone, N.C. with 1 inch of snow
10 at Jefferson, N.C. with 1 inch of snow.
-1 in Peoria, Ill. (still snow covered)
-3 in Rockford, Ill. (still trying to recover from last Friday’s winter storm)
11 in St. Louis (still thousands of power outages in the region from last Friday)
-8 at TommyHawk, Wisc., coldest in the Lower 48
87 yesterday’s high at Riverside and Woodland Hills, Calif., USA warmest.
EAST TENNESSEE MOUNTAINS:
Check out this email from Bill McMillan. He has the Mountain City Weather center at Mountain City, in extreme NE Tennessee: Just wanted to let you know that temperatures up this way have plummeted into the single digits, with the coldest wind chill reading overnight and this morning dropping to 16 below zero in Mountain City. Wind chill readings for some of our higher mountains have dropped to as low as -35. Most areas have at least an inch of snow on the ground, and because temps. fell so quickly, roadways are a mess. Some of the higher mountains, such as Stone and Beech mountains have between 3 and 4 inches. As of this e-mail Mountain City is sitting at 9 degrees above zero with a wind chill of 4 below zero. Stay warm down there in Bama!
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
* Matt Padget, reporting a 17-degree low in Moody, said “it felt great.” He also asked if “anyone out there with a small pond was going ice fishing today or tomorrow morning?”
* At mid morning, the wind chill was only 18 on the beach at Gulf Shores where they had a low of 26 this morning. The wind was from the NE at 19 mph at times. Can you imagine walking on the beach barefooted this morning in a tank top?
* The 15-degree low in both Muscle Shoals and Pinson this morning was a record low for December 8.
* At one time this morning, atop Mt. Mitchell, N.C., higest point in the Eastern USA, the temperature was -7 with 35 mph winds, occasionally gusting to 53 mph, and a wind chill colder than -50 at times!
* We asked a hypothetical question this morning. Suppose Alabama had been heavily snow covered last night (say about one-half foot) and with clear skies and no wind, what do you think the coldest temperature would have been this morning?
