Deja Snow All Over Again ! !

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It’s deja snow all over again! Looks like another round of snow for Central and North Alabama with a pretty vigorous clipper system that will be zipping by us tonight and Monday. A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued by the NWS for much of North and Central Alabama along with a Winter Storm Warning for parts of Northeast and the northern sections of East Alabama including Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, St. Clair, Jackson, Madison, Marshall, and Dekalb counties. The advisories/warnings are in effect until noon Monday. The advisory area is likely to see 1 to 2 inches of snow while the warning area could see amounts over 2 inches which is the criteria for heavy snow in Alabama.

The culprit is a speedy clipper system that is diving southeastward across the Central US. Most clipper systems have limited moisture, so they do not typically produce heavy snow events. This one is a bit unusual – a hybrid as the NWS forecast discussion suggested – since it has a brief window to tap into Gulf moisture. The precipitation – some of which was showing up on radar early this morning in the Tennessee River Valley – will be light this afternoon and early evening but should change over the snow between 9 pm and 3 am. Most likely time for snow will come between 3 am and 10 am with snow beginning to taper off after 10 am across Central Alabama.

I think much of Central Alabama roughly along and north of a line from Aliceville to Tuscaloosa to Columbiana to Wedowee will see 1 to 2 inches of snow with the lesser amounts along this line. Across the northeast sections of Alabama and higher elevations, there is potential for 2 to 4 inches of snow. As to travel, I think there is some potential for issues especially from just north of Birmingham to the north and northeast. We did get some sun yesterday to warm up those asphalt lanes and there probably won’t be as much melting with the snow coming in the colder hours. But still, warnings and advisories have been issued, so everyone should take the conditions seriously and avoid travel if you can. I know the holiday should keep traffic down somewhat, but I also understand Shelby County schools are using Monday as a snow day makeup, so they will have to make a decision on that.

The clipper departs but leaves the cold. Look for the cold air to stick with us through about Wednesday. As we get into Thursday and Friday, we should see a warning trend with highs expected to reach the lower 50s. That only puts us back to values typical for mid-February so the warming is a relative thing.

The zonal flow aloft forecast for the end of the week and into the weekend means we should remain about seasonal. Minor disturbances in the flow will provide some clouds and perhaps a little light rain for the end of the weekend and the first of the next week.

Voodoo country provides a lot of entertainment. I noted the HUGE weather system around the end of February, but it’s gone on the long range GFS today – surprise!!! The only reliable information to pull from the long range is that the overall weather pattern remains active.

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Wow, what interesting weather. I just hate it that this is not going to have the visibility of our last event. But maybe it will be snowing at daybreak Monday so I’ll get a chance to see a few hours of snow falling. James Spann will be back tomorrow morning with the next edition of the Weather Xtreme Video. Stay with the Blog for later updates. Enjoy this day and Godspeed.

-Brian-

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