The precip has moved into much of the Birmingham area over the past hour or so. Many reports on the blog coming in of snow and sleet. The sleet has been heavy at times here in Trussville.
The sleet probably means there is a warm layer somewhere aloft that has not been wet-bulbed to freezing yet, allowing melting then re-freezing of precipitation. Where it comes down as snow, that means it’s coming down the way it formed, going directly from water vapor to ice. The melting of all this sleet and snow as it comes down also lowers the temperature some, in addition to the evaporation/wet bulb process. With the sleet being heavy at times, even though the temp is above freezing, be careful when driving, as there may be a little sleet or snow accumulation over the next few hours, enough to make your car slide easier.
Warm air will come in aloft through the afternoon and evening, changing the precipitation over to all rain in BHM by 7 pm, if not earlier. And, with surface temperatures staying above freezing around here, the only areas that may have significant accumulations or travel problems will be the higher elevations of east and northeast Alabama.
I like this picture of sleet pellets bouncing in the air above the trash can (sorry to my wife for posting a picture of this).
