Rare Southern Snowstorm

A rare southern snowstorm is in full force at this hour. Dallas has recorded a record snowfall for ANY calendar day, with 8.7 inches today. Snow will continue in the Metroplex for a few more hours. Haslet TX in Tarrant County, TX (where Fort Worth is) reports 10.1 inches of snow.

Snow is now being reported in Mississippi. Light snow has been reported at Carthage, which is west of Philadelphia. Snow is falling in Greenville. Snow has also been reported in Sunflower and Holmes Counties.

Snow is increasing over northern Louisiana, mainly south of I-20. 32F at Ruston, 32F at Natchitoches, 34F at Alexandria and 34F in Monroe.

Margaret Orr at WDSU in New Orleans reports snow at the Morganza Spillway, northwest of New Roads, or between Baton Rouge and Alexandria.

Winter storm warnings remain in effect for heavy snow for the following areas…
…Central and South Alabama
…Central and Southern Mississippi
…The Florida Panhandle
…Western Georgia
…Southern Arkansas
…Much of Louisiana
…North and Northeast Texas
…Southern Oklahoma

More snow reports to the west…
…One third of an inch on ground in Greenville MS now…
…1 inch in West Monroe LA with dusting on bridges and overpasses now
…4 inches in Texarkana…snowed for 10 hours there
…Roads closed in the Shreveport area include I-220 and I-49

We can now see this snow even unfolding on radars to our west and have lots of snow reports coming in from areas to the west of Alabama. Some light snow now reported in Jackson. We will start seeing snow reports from western Alabama before midnight I think.

Some virga is now visible on radar over West Alabama. It is 41F at Tuscaloosa and 36F at Birmingham. 31F at Haleyville. It is 32F at Cullman. Temperatures will continue to fall slowly, especially as precipitation starts falling into the drier air. Readings will fall 5-6F with evaporative cooling and should be near 30 after midnight in the I-20 corridor.

The heaviest snow is expected to move into the state before sunrise and move east through the day. The heaviest snow looks like it will be from about 830 a.m. until 230 p.m. in the Birmingham metro area. Earlier in Tuscaloosa, later in Anniston obviously. The snow should last a total of 8 hours or so.

A band of 3-5 inch snowfall amounts is likely with this storm. The best chance of that appears to be south of a line from Livingtson to Clanton to Roanoke. North of that in the I-20 corridor, 1 to 2 inch amounts will be common with a chance of some heavier amounts. There will be a sweet spot of heavier snowfall amounts somewhere over Central Alabama. North of the I-20 corridor to about US-278, a dusting to 1 inch is likely. The Tennessee Valley may only see a dusting.

Areas that receive 1 to 2 inches of snow or more will see accumulations on roads and travel could be a problem with temperatures holding the lower 30s tomorrow.

Go ahead now and prepare for how these snowfall amounts will affect your family and business. Schools are mostly waiting until tomorrow morning to make decisions, although a few will probably make announcements before the 10 o’clock news tonight. A few have already closed for tomorrow.

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