Showers & Some Wintry Mix This Morning; Major Rains Start On Monday

At 7:23 am, radar is showing a good bit of shower activity on the eastern half of Central Alabama and nearly all of this looks to be rain at this point, with the exception of the northeastern corner of the area. Some snow showers or a mix may possibly be occurring. No reports of any travel issues at this point, but a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Calhoun, Cleburne, Etowah, and Cherokee counties until 11:00 am this morning. We do have reports of some minor accumulations on grassy and elevated surfaces.

Temperatures are in the mid-30s to the lower 40s across Central Alabama at this time. Troy was the cold spot at 34 degrees while several locations were tied as the warm spots at 43 degrees, including Birmingham.

FOR TODAY: The latest run of the HRRR shows showers moving across the area mainly north of I-20 and east of I-65 through much of the morning with a mix of snow or sleet over the extreme northeastern parts of the area in the higher terrains. Much of that activity will be out of the area before midday only leaving a small tail of scattered showers across the southern portions of the area. Those showers should be out of here before 6:00 pm tonight. Temperatures do make a nice rebound topping out in the lower 50s to the lower 60s from north to south. Skies will be clearing out throughout the day behind the disturbance and we’ll have sunny skies by mid-afternoon.

ON SUNDAY: We’ll have mostly sunny skies through much of the daylight hours, but clouds will begin to move into the area out ahead of an approaching cold front. Rain chances will start to increase after midnight over the western parts of the area, so go out and enjoy the day while it is dry. Highs will be nice, reaching the lower to mid-60s for most, upper 60s for the extreme southwestern parts of the area.

ON MONDAY: The cold front will continue to make a very slow approach to Central Alabama as warm, moist, and unstable air will be pulled up into the area out ahead of it, setting the stage for rain and thunderstorms. Those will be likely over the western and northwestern parts of the area for the first half of the day and eventually moving into the rest of the area during the late afternoon hours. Rain could be heavy at times and some flash flooding issues are possible, especially with the already well-saturated soils. 1-2 inches of rainfall is possible across the area through midnight. Highs will be in the lower 60s to the lower 70s across the area.

ON TUESDAY: The front stalls out over Central Alabama and that will keep rain and a few thunderstorms likely across the area through much of the day. Another surface low will form out to the west of us that may allow some of the moisture to be pulled northward which may allow some locations south of I-20 to be rain-free for a few hours during the late-night and overnight hours. Rainfall totals through midnight look to be around 1-1.5 inches. Highs will be in the lower 60s to the lower 70s.

ON WEDNESDAY: The surface low will be located on the Gulf Coast near the Texas/Mexico border to start the day and will be moving northeastward along the front. The front will also start to move once again slowly and the rain and thunderstorms will become likely across the area during the evening and late-night hours. We could see another 1/4 to 3/4 inches of rainfall through midnight. Highs will be in the upper 50s to the lower 70s across the area from northwest to southeast.

ON THURSDAY: The system will finally catch high gear and will start to accelerate out of the area by or just after the midday hour, but another 1-2 inches of rainfall may occur before it exits, stage right. Skies will remain mostly cloudy and afternoon highs will reach the upper 50s to the lower 70s.

ON FRIDAY: We’ll finally have a chance to get to dry out a little as skies will slowly start to clear out during the day. Temperatures will be close to seasonal as highs will reach the mid-50s to the lower 60s across the area for northwest to southeast. Unfortunately, it looks like showers return on Saturday.

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