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Winter Storm Punches Alabama With Surprising Snowfall

| December 11, 2017 @ 5:00 am

By Michael Sznajderman

A pre-winter storm that meteorologists predicted would provide a decorative sprinkle of snow instead dumped as much as a foot of the white stuff Friday on portions of Alabama. What was quickly dubbed Winter Storm Benji by The Weather Channel reached even to Mobile, breaking a record for the Gulf Coast city that had stood since record-keeping began in 1842.

The surprising snowfall, combined with freezing temperatures, affected more than 80,000 Alabama Power customers, from Mobile to Montgomery, Tuscaloosa to Birmingham. But the worst of it fell on east Alabama, where accumulations of 10 inches to a foot were reported in several locations. The heavy, sticky snow snapped or pushed down countless tree limbs onto powerlines, causing widespread outages.

While many people in north-central Alabama ended up with an extra day off Friday, Alabama Power crews hit the streets as soon as the first outages started coming in. The company quickly shifted crews to areas with the greatest damage, and brought in extra crews from sister utilities Mississippi Power and Gulf Power, as well as hundreds of contractor crews from eight states to help speed restoration.By Sunday evening, 99 percent of Alabama Power customers affected by the storm – except for some hard-hit pockets in east Alabama – had service restored. Crews continued to work on Monday, and were expected to have the lights on for all customers who can take service by the end of the day.

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