EXTREME COLD WARNING OVERNIGHT WITH LOW TEMPS AS LOW AS 9 DEGREES… The snow pack on the ground will act as an “air conditioner” overnight, causing low temperatures to likely be in the single digits by daybreak Thursday morning. Note that if your location does NOT have snow on the ground, low temperatures probably won’t be in the single digits, instead being in the mid to upper 10s. Regardless of how low the temperature gets in your location, we ALL have a frigid night on tap with an Extreme Cold Warning continuing for all local counties. We finally will get above the freezing mark in most spots tomorrow afternoon.
NO TRAVEL OVERNIGHT LOCALLY… Please do not drive overnight into Thursday morning as numerous roads now have dangerous black ice in place. Road conditions should begin to improve tomorrow around midday. I cannot predict specific road conditions, but you can always check the state websites (algotraffic.com for Alabama and fl511.com for Florida) to get specific updates near your location.
NO NEW, SIGNIFICANT ARCTIC BLAST BEGINNING ANYTIME SOON… We will be in a warming trend over the next few days. It will be gradual with highs in the 30s and low 40s tomorrow, 40s on Friday, 50s on Saturday and Sunday, and 60s on Monday. Next week looks mild as well, certainly compared to the temperatures we have had over the last few weeks. Despite this, I have received several questions over the last few hours about a viral misinformation post making the rounds this evening. The post falsely alleges another Arctic blast is on the way for the Gulf Coast in February. This is extremely misleading in that data beyond 7 days out is totally unreliable. We WILL have more cold air intrusions from the north before the end of winter, most likely, but to suggest another prolonged outbreak of Arctic air in early February is not only irresponsible, it’s also plain wrong, based on all the data I am seeing. The key to identifying these misinformation posts is to look at the source. “U.S. Gulf Coast Weather Updates Page” on Facebook (with no identifying information about who actually wrote the post) is a clue that it is probably clickbait garbage. I don’t have to be your weather source, but please don’t buy into the garbage these pages push regularly. Any data beyond 7 days out should be questioned.
I will have your next detailed forecast video posted by 7:15AM tomorrow morning with the latest information about what we can expect over the next few days. Have a nice Thursday evening! Stay warm.