**No Weather Xtreme video this morning due to ongoing weather issues**
RIGHT NOW: A blanket of snow is on the ground over North Alabama, north of I-20, with amounts averaging 3-10 inches, but isolated amounts to one foot. For a live look at the vast snow pack over North Alabama… see the images from our SKYCAM page here.
A few snow totals as of 6:30…
Killen 10.0″
Cherokee 9.0″
Rogersville 8.3″
Hartselle 8.0″
Attalla 7.0″
Gadsden (Near Noccalula Falls) 7.0″
Tuscumbia 7.0″
Fort Payne 6.7″
Centre 6.5″
Sand Rock 6.5″
Hamilton 5.0″
Muscadine 5.0″
Thatch 5.0″
Walnut Grove 5.0″
Carbon Hill 4.5″
Haleyville 4.0″
Bremen/Dodge City 4.0″
Pell City 4.0″
Hokes Bluff 4.0″
Oneonta 4.0″
Jasper 3.5″
Springville 3.5″
Pinson 2.5″
Fayette 2.2″
Trussville 2.0″
I have now over 1,000 images of the snow, and will post a fresh batch shortly.
The rain-ice was very close to I-20… north of the Interstate, it was mostly snow, to the south, mostly sleet and freezing rain.
TRAVEL: Difficult if not impossible… nobody should be on the roads this morning over North or Central Alabama unless you have an emergency. We had fatalities in Alabama yesterday due to travel on ice and snow covered roads, and it just isn’t worth it. Scroll down for Jason’s projection of road improvements today.
TODAY: Areas of light snow and freezing rain will continue to move through the northern half of Alabama this morning, diminishing this afternoon. Temperatures are generally below freezing along and north of I-20, and temperatures will climb only slowly today.
Below is Bill Murray’s post from the seven day forecast page… more info to come…
HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Roads are glazed or snow packed across much of the area and travel is not recommended. Please don’t drive unless you have to in areas that have icy roads.
OTHERWISE FOR YOUR MONDAY: Skies will be mostly cloudy today with a continued brisk east wind, averaging some 8-18 mph. There could be some clearing from the west by afternoon, although the models downplay this idea. Temperatures will get struggle to get much above freezing, with most locations topping out in the middle 30s.
TONIGHT: Skies should remain mostly overcast tonight with lows falling into the middle 20s.
TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY: It looks like colder air will flood into Alabama behind this system and we will see highs in the 30s both Tuesday and Wednesday. In fact, we might struggle to reach freezing on Wednesday and Thursday. There could be a few snow showers Tuesday afternoon and evening as the colder air is ushered in. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings all will be cold, with lows in the teens to around 20F.
BIT OF A WARMUP: Things should warm up just a tad by Friday and Saturday, with highs getting back into the 40s and lower 50s as our winds turn southerly. A passing disturbance could spread showers back into Alabama on Sunday, and the precipitation could mix with snow on the back side Sunday evening and night. It could bear watching.
VOODOO: We stay cold and unsettled through the 26th with plenty of cold air and a few shots at some wintry mischief. Nothing worth mentioning at this time, but if that pattern does hold, we could have some close calls in the wintry weather department over the next two weeks.
AN APT ANALOG: Mike Wilhelm, who is the keeper of our WeatherBrains Facebook page, lives in Huntsville and operates a great weather blog. He pointed out some analogs to this winter weather event before it got started, and turned out he was pretty close. He believed that it would behave like the winter storm that hit Alabama on January 6-7, 1988. Huntsville picked up 9.6 inches of snow. Further south, in Birmingham, the radar lit up like a Christmas tree after midnight as convective action broke out. But the temperature was a little too warm, and just as it looked like the snow was going to get going, it would switch over to rain. We ended up picking up one inch. You can read Mike’s work at www.BamaWX.com. Thanks for everything you do Mike!
SPEAKING OF WEATHERBRAINS: We move this week’s show to a Tuesday night recording schedule in order to accommodate the football viewing habits of the regular panel. Seems there is a little soiree in Glendale, Arizona tonight. The menu: a little roast duck. Or so is the plan for the Auburn Tigers. It has been chillier than normal in the Valley of the Sun, but that hasn’t affected the Auburn fans.
WEATHER NOTEBOOK: Nancy is Tuscaloosa writes…”I was reading your blog and you asked for favorite snow memories…..one of my very favorite was the snow that fell on that Saturday in January of 92…..it was enough to be really beautiful and keep you inside but not enough for major power outages….but the really fascinating thing for me was when I went to bed Saturday night…..I cracked my window and realized for the first time in my life that you could HEAR snow……..it was so quiet outside because there was little to no traffic at that hour and it made this little clicking sound as the flakes hit the ground……this was after there was already snow on the ground and as the snowflakes hit the snow…you could actually hear it….I lay there for the longest time…..God bless….
ANOTHER MEMORY: From Rebecca Young…”You asked for snow memories on the 7-day forecast. I was working as a paramedic for Suburban Ambulance in 1982 for the 2-day event that year (back when James said he had hair). Day one started at lunchtime on Tuesday and panic immediately ensued with everyone trying to get home. It was an unfortunate situation because a lot of people got stranded. Cars were left littered everywhere. We picked people up until well past dark. Part two of that occurred Wednesday night. No one was out and we had a blast throwing snowballs, while we were waiting on our mechanic to bring us chains. That’s when I first learned how people here panic when snow is mentioned.”
HAWAII COLD: The morning low at Lihue in Hawaii was 57F, cool enough to establish a record for the date.
ALASKA WARM: Barrow hit 33F for a high today, smashing the previous record for the date of 25F.
ON THIS DATE IN 1982: Birmingham and much of Alabama was in the deep freeze as an Arctic blast was engulfing much of the eastern half of the nation. As temperatures were tumbling across Alabama, a surprise dropped from the sky on a Birmingham, AL highway. As temperatures fell steadily during the day through the twenties and teens into the single digits, a single engine Cessna had to execute an emergency landing on U.S. highway 31 in Fultondale. The plane’s engine failed because of carburetor ice. Several tractor trailer trucks had to brake suddenly to avoid the plane.
