If we had total control over everything, including the weather of course, we would never want to see another day like this in Alabama.
It has been 100% miserable for a huge percentage of the population. This includes several hundred traffic accidents (no way to know for sure how many) and almost all of those accidents could be credited to freezing rain, which in turn messed up the bridges and overpasses and even some straightaways.
There have been injuries and even fatalities. At midday, there was a multiple vehicle accident on I-59 northeast of Birmingham just inside the St. Clair County line. It included an 18-wheeler. Officials closed the interstate soon after the accident.
However, the most tragic accident occurred south of Troy on US-231 about 8:00 this morning. Two female students from the Pike County Liberal School were killed and a male student riding with them was hospitalized. This wreck occurred on an icy bridge over Walnut Creek south of the Troy area.
Now what? There is a bit of encouragement based on radar returns. The more extensive rain has shifted mostly NE and east of Birmingham. Rain is a bad word today, because a lot of it has been freezing on contact. We believe now that for several hours this afternoon the main icing problems will be over NE and East/Central Alabama all the way from about DeKalb and Cherokee Counties as well as Etowah County southward to NE of Montgomery. Undoubtedly there will be more accidents as more of the bridges become icy.
Meanwhile, back over on the west side of the state, some warmer air is trying to get by the “Welcome to Alabama” signs and trying to get into the western part of the state. In places like Livingston, Demopolis, Greensboro, Marion, Eutaw, Carrollton and Tuscaloosa, the radar echoes show a marked thinning of the amount of rain. Midday temperatures were still below freezing in many areas, especially over the northern counties and across Central Alabama into the eastern portions. Slight warming, however, was taking place in West Alabama with 34 at Tuscaloosa, 37 at Montgomery, 41 in greenville. Over in Mississippi, the warmer air was more noticeable especially in the western part of the state where it was 64 in Jackson and 63 in Vicksburg.
This is going to turn out to be a major costly weather event. No telling how many automobiles have been totalled or will need major body work. At one time, just before noon, state troopers were almost overwhelmed trying to answer calls and they were highly discouraging travel.
With the more significant icing expecting to shift into NE Alabama this afternoon, a number of schools waited until midday to close. Here is a list of some of the schools that closed later:
Altamont School Closing at 1:30
Clay County 12 noon
Alexander City Schools 11:30
Attalla Schools 11:30
Cherokee County Schools 11:30
Dekalb County 11:15
Episcopal Day School 11:30
Fort Payne Schools 11:15
Gadsden Schools 11:30
Westbrook Christian 11:00
Bibb County Closed
Blount County Closed
Walker County Closed
