A few notes from the forecast office…
*Temperatures should continue to rise slowly during the night. Here is a list of approximate times when temperatures should be above freezing and the bridge icing will abate…
Anniston 8:00
Birmingham 9:00
Gadsden 11:00
Tuscaloosa 12:00 midnight
It is likely that in these cities (Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Anniston, and Gadsden), tomorrow morning will just be cold and wet with rain falling and temperatures in the mid 30s with no major travel issues.
*To the north, 1-2 inches of snow covers parts of Winston, Cullman, Blount, Marshall, north Etowah, and north Cherokee Counties. In these areas, the precipitation will change to freezing rain, and then rain tomorrow morning as a warm nose aloft moves over the region. There could be some bridge icing in these counties through early tomorrow morning with freezing rain falling on top of the snow. The greatest risk of travel issues in these counties early tomorrow morning will be along and north of U.S. 278.
*Areas northwest of Birmingham, where the cold air is more entrenched, should stay below freezing night, and this is where we have the greatest concern for significant ice accumulation. Bridge icing is possible in these counties all the way through mid-morning tomorrow: Pickens, Lamar, Fayette, Walker, and Marion. Travel in these areas will remain difficult through the night and into tomorrow morning. There might even be enough ice accumulation overnight for some tree and power line damage.
All of Alabama should be above freezing by late morning tomorrow.
*There is a chance the rain will change to snow before ending late tomorrow night and Saturday morning, but for now we don’t expect any significant accumulation.
*And, just for fun, we must note the global models have, at times, advertised a major winter storm with lots of snow for parts of the Deep South Wednesday night into Thursday of next week. Way too early to even think about this one… we are having a hard enough time with the ongoing weather!
