SNOW ACROSS WEST ALABAMA TUESDAY
RZW Exec partners, good Monday evening! Below is the latest forecast discussion that we will be giving to the general public in a special live video that I’ll be doing at 8PM CST. The video will air on Facebook Live and in Live Video tab of the RedZone Weather app. The forecast remains on target: West Alabama will likely have some minor (0.25″ to 1″ of snow accumulation) on Tuesday morning. Most of us across south Alabama and northwest Florida will have a cold rain with no snow impacts. North and central Alabama are under a Winter Storm Warning. 1-3″ of snow will be possible across much of those areas. Several of you have reached out today regarding decision support. I certainly appreciate that! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
SPECIAL LIVE UPDATE: SNOW POSSIBLE INLAND, RAIN FOR THE COAST… The forecast for Tuesday has remained consistent over the last 48 hours: Minor snow accumulation will be possible across northern parts of our local area, specifically in northern Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Butler, and Monroe counties. The rest of us farther south of these areas will likely have a few flurries mixed in with the rain, but no accumulation. Higher snow amounts are expected to our north in central and northern Alabama.
RAIN LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT… Scattered rain showers will become possible after midnight into the early morning hours of Tuesday. These showers will spread eastward across the south Alabama and northwest Florida. Meanwhile, in central Alabama, there will be snow happening from midnight to 6AM. Areas near Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, and Gadsden are expected to have 1-2” of accumulating snow during this timeframe.
CHANGE OVER TO SNOW EARLY TUESDAY MORNING… Rain will begin to change from rain to snow over west Alabama in Choctaw, Washington, Clarke, and Marengo counties between 4AM and 7AM. Snow will last 2-3 hours in most spots. The back edge of the precipitation will quickly move east throughout the morning hours of Tuesday.
GREATEST CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER SUNRISE… The change line from rain to snow will continue to move east throughout the morning hours of Tuesday. Most of the northern fringe of our area (Clarke, Washington, Monroe, Butler counties and points north) will have the greatest chance of snow between 6AM and 11AM on Tuesday morning. After the lunch hour, rain and snow will likely be out of our area to the east. This is good news as there will likely be a longer stretch of drying potential for local roadways than we initially thought.
POTENTIAL SNOW AMOUNTS… Accumulation of snow is most likely to happen in our local area in the northern parts of Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Butler, and Monroe counties. Places near Thomasville, Coffeeville, Campbell, Millry, Frankville, Silas, Toxey, Butler, Pennington, Needham, Gilbertown, Vredenburgh, Beatrice, Forest Home, Pine Apple, Camden, Pine Hill, and Greenville will likely have 0.25” to 1” of accumulating snow by Noon on Tuesday. Areas to the south of these areas will MOST likely have no accumulation with just a mix of rain and snow and no notable accumulation. As I often caution, there will be some surprises along the way with some spots picking up more snow than expected and some will pick up less.
BLACK ICE POTENTIAL… Be sure to see the graphic in the video about this. The greatest potential for black ice and ice issues on local roadways will be in west Alabama where the greatest snow accumulation happens. The main concern for much of Washington, Clarke, Monroe, and Butler counties will be icing that occurs on elevated surfaces like bridges. There will be some concern for this during Tuesday morning, but the main concern will be Tuesday night into Wednesday morning when temperatures are expected to be in the low- to mid-20s across our region. That is just a hair above the hard freeze criteria (20° or less). Take it easy if you have to be out and about on Tuesday into Wednesday. We will know more about the ice issues once we start seeing radar trends in the morning.
COLDEST NIGHT WILL BE TUESDAY P.M. INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING… Very cold Arctic air will surge into our region during the daytime hours of Tuesday behind the passing cold front. Overnight lows on Wednesday morning will be in the low- to mid-20s. I can’t rule out a few rural spots across the northern flank of our region being around 18-19° at daybreak Wednesday.
SEND IN YOUR PICS… It is SO helpful to have “ground truth” photos from your location! Don’t forget that you can send in your weather pictures in the RedZone Weather app (Share tab is in in the bottom tab bar in the middle area). You can also send them in on Facebook or Twitter. If you’re in an area that is forecast to have snow on Tuesday, please send in your snow/weather photos!
NEXT VIDEO… My next video update will be posted Tuesday morning when the snow/rain event is happening. Have a good Monday evening!