Some of us will have to hold on to our hats as the breeze will be picking up for the afternoon. If you like cold weather, you’ll get to enjoy the early morning lows on Sunday morning. Freeze warnings and frost advisories have already been issued.
At the 3 pm roundup, temperatures were in the 50s all across Central Alabama, ranging from as warm as 58º in both Troy and Demopolis, to as cool as 53º in Gadsden, Prattville, and Talladega.
We’ll have beautiful weather after we step out of the deep freeze today, but showers and thunderstorms will return on Tuesday.
Even with the sunshine, temperatures still remain mighty cold, especially with the gusty winds. As of 11 am, temperatures were ranging from the lower 30s in the northwest to the lower 40s in the southeast. Troy was the warm spot at 43º. The cold spot was Haleyville at 31º. Birmingham was sitting at 35º.
Some locations woke up this morning with snow on the ground, but all of the area was cold and breezy. Don’t worry, the warm-up begins on Sunday.
At 8:06 pm this evening, rain is pushing through the Birmingham metropolitan area, with some heavier downpours mixed in. There are two bits of good news… The first is that none of this action is strong or severe… The second is that temperatures are still well above freezing, sitting at 63º at the Birmingham International Airport.
NWS Birmingham extends the Winter Storm Warning to now include Blount, Cherokee, and Etowah counties in Central Alabama. These counties are in effect along with Marion and Winston counties starting at midnight tonight and is set to expire at 9 am Saturday morning.
NWS Huntsville has upgraded Cullman, DeKalb, and Marshall counties in North Alabama to a Winter Storm Warning from 9 pm tonight until 9 am Saturday morning. These counties have been added to Colbert, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, and Morgan counties already in the warning.
After seeing highs in the mid 60s to the lower 70s today, and expected afternoon highs reaching the upper 60s to the lower 70s on Friday, both NWS Birmingham and NWS Huntsville have issued winter weather advisories for their areas for the system that will move through the area late Friday through early Saturday.
We’ll have one more quiet day today before an active pattern sets up, keeping rain in the forecast on each day through the work week ahead. Some strong to severe storms are possible on Monday.
We’ll have a brief cooldown starting today as a cold front moves through. Some of us may see a few sprinkles or flurries, but that is about it. Warmer temperatures move back in for the work week ahead until a strong cold front brings a chance for severe storms on Thursday.
Skies across Central Alabama are sunny as we are making the approach to the midday hour on this second “Hump Day” in February.
