Winter Storm Knocking On Our Door

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

WINTER STORM WARNING: Scroll down to see the Winter Storm Warning issued by the NWS. They have gone 2 to 4 inches for Birmingham metro….

STORM ALERT 2010 TONIGHT! Don’t forget our annual severe weather awareness show comes to Sumiton; we will be at Bevill State Community College at 7:00… the doors open at 5:00. If you live in Walker or the surrounding counties; we sure hope to see you there tonight. I will be staying here at the station at 5:00 and 6:00 to handle weather from the studio due to the approaching winter storm, but I will be there a few minutes after the show begins.

SOUTHERN SNOW STORM TOMORROW: Be sure and watch the Weather Xtreme video for all of the details of this winter weather event. Confidence in the forecast is pretty good now… let’s do some Q and A…

WILL THIS BE LIKE THE BLIZZARD OF 1993: No. Not in the same league.

WHEN: We are now getting reports of sleet in Mobile, so the precipitation is coming in pretty quickly. Looks like it begins in Southwest Alabama tonight. Snow should begin in West Alabama after midnight tonight, and it should be snowing in Birmingham tomorrow morning by the time the sun comes up. Anniston should see snow by 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. The snow will continue all day, ending tomorrow night. All of the snow should be out of the state by 9:00 tomorrow night.

HOW MUCH: We are forecasting a broad area of 2 to 5 inches across South Alabama, including places like Linden, Camden, Greenville, Troy, Montgomery, Auburn, Phenix City, and Luverne. No doubt some places down there will see more, possibly in the 6 inch range, but we can’t be specific about that until the snow bands set up on radar late tonight and early tomorrow.

For the I-20 corridor, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Anniston, we are now forecasting 1 to 2 inches of snow. A few spots could see 1/2 to 1 inch as far north as U.S. 278, or a line from Hamilton to Cullman to Gadsden. For now we don’t expect any serious accumulation over the Tennessee Valley of extreme North Alabama.

We should note accumulating snow is possible as far south as I-10, including Mobile and Pensacola. And, snow flakes are likely all the way to the beach before it is over. See the snow accumulation graphic on the Weather Xtreme video, or on the blog in the post below this one.

WHAT ABOUT TRAVEL? With the snow coming in early tomorrow morning, and with temperatures at or just below freezing, there could be icy spots on bridges tomorrow in the Birmingham metro area, along with Tuscaloosa and Anniston. The most widespread and severe travel issues should be over the southern half of the state where the heaviest snow will fall.

AIRPORTS: There could be enough snow for some delays at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Same thing for Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. And, with the big backup from the blizzard over the Northeast U.S. a couple of days ago, you will need some serious doses of patience if you are trying to fly tomorrow. Take a big, deep breath.

POWER OUTAGES? We are not dealing with freezing rain or ice, so no major outages are expected. But, there could be enough heavy, wet snow over parts of South Alabama for downed tree limbs and scattered outages tomorrow.

SCHOOL CLOSINGS: Keep up with that on the main ABC 33/40 web site… all of the closings will be posted there as they come in tonight and early tomorrow, and of course we will crawl that information on ABC 33/40 TV.

DON”T FORGET: With any snow event in Alabama, there will be surprises, and some will be delighted with the amount of snow they see, while others are severely disappointed. Stay tuned to the blog for developments tonight and tomorrow as this big storm rolls in.

WE LOVE PICTURES: Have snow pictures? Send them to pictures@abc3340.com!

COVERAGE: We will have live streams from our Storm Chaser and team of Skywatchers posted here on the blog, which will be fun to watch tomorrow. I will be doing a special on our live stream and WeatherNow digital channel tonight at 7:00…

OUR WEEKEND AND NEXT WEEK: Saturday will be cold and dry, but a clipper will bring a chance of some light snow Sunday afternoon, followed by sharply colder air Monday. We might have a hard time getting out of the 20s Monday with a chance of snow flurries. The middle of next week looks cold and dry.

HIGH TRAFFIC MODE: Due to the excessive traffic we are handling this afternoon, we are in high traffic mode, so no comments for an hour or two. Things should be back to normal by late afternoon. And, remember you can join our live weather chat here anytime.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left.

FOLLOW ALONG: Here are our weather team Twitter accounts….

Hope to see many of you at Storm Alert 2010 tonight at Bevill State in Sumiton… and stay tuned to the blog for frequent running updates on this winter storm…

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