SNOW UPDATE & ALL CLEAR FROM SEVERE WEATHER RISK… Numerous automated smartphone weather apps today suggested a potential snow event for our region next week. I’ve had *numerous* questions today about that. The big headlines here are: 1) The severe weather risk has officially come to an end for all parts of southwest Alabama and northwest Florida, including all of the RedZone Weather primary coverage area. 2) Rain is likely next week on Tuesday. Snow is very unlikely at this point. Could that change? Yes, it absolutely could, but it’s not likely to at this point. Let’s talk about the details…
ALL CLEAR: SEVERE WEATHER IS OVER… We had one tornado warning today in Covington County. I have heard of no damage reports, however. Good news! We also had several severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings over west Alabama. It’s reasonable to conclude that this day will be remembered for the extensive flash flooding that happened over Clarke and Washington counties in west Alabama where numerous water rescues happened. Rain, lightning, and thunder will end from west to east over the next few hours. Thursday will be much drier and cooler.
SNOW POSSIBLE IN NORTH ALABAMA NEXT WEEK… The latest model data continues to suggest that snow may be possible Tuesday across the far northern stretches of Alabama, mainly north of U.S. Highway 278 in places like Huntsville, Decatur, Florence, and Muscle Shoals.
SNOW IS NOT LIKELY ACROSS SOUTH ALABAMA & NW FLORIDA… I really hate to be the bearer of bad news because I know SO many people want to see some snow around our region, but at this point the chance of snow remains very, very low for our local area. Could that change? Yes, and we will have to continue to watch model trends to see if models “go in the other direction” toward suggesting snow. Today, models have exclusively moved toward a “rain solution” with no snow in the runs. At this point, we will call for a low (20%) rain chance for Tuesday with no snow/mix issues.
DON’T TRUST THE AUTOMATED APPS… The snow icons that appear occasionally in the long range forecasts on stock weather apps are very misleading for our part of the country. This is mainly because these apps pick up on model-to-model run variances and in this case, they provide false hope for “snow lovers” everywhere. The fact is that 99% of weather apps available today are completely automated with model output statistics and ZERO human input. This makes the forecasting you see on stock weather apps (like the one that comes by default loaded onto all iPhones and certain Android phones) highly unreliable and subject to large errors. Contrast that with our RedZone Weather app that is basically exclusively produced by me. No automation whatsoever. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download.
IF WE HAVE CHANGES, I’LL LET YOU KNOW… Again, please don’t think I’m “anti-snow” because we don’t have it in our forecast. I’m in the weather forecasting business, not the “wishcasting” business. IF we have changes that support snow across our area, I’ll be sure to let you know!
Thank you to everyone who watched our coverage today and checked the numerous updates in the RedZone Weather app. Have a great evening!