January Snows

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for Sunday afternoon through Monday morning for much of Alabama. There is the potential for 1 to 4 inches of snow across a large part of Central Alabama.

Thanks to consistency in computer model guidance from run-to-run and across the various models used by meteorologists, confidence in the forecast is running rather high. After all, snow forecasting in the Southeast US is not the easiest task to perform since just minor differences can result in major changes to a perfectly good forecast.

Nevertheless, we appear headed for a winter storm that seems rightly described as major. So what does it take to get a major winter storm? Looking back over National Weather Service records for the Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport, site of published weather observations since 1900, there have only been 35 days with snowfall amounts greater than a half inch.

So I think I’m on fairly firm ground if I define “major” as more than 2 inches of snow. Records show only 12 events with more than 2 inches of snow in 110 years.

The highest snow total for January was 9.5 inches which came on January 23, 1940. The most recent snow event in January was a 3 inch event on January 28, 2000.

January 9, 1962, saw a snow event which produced 3.5 inches of snow.

Our upcoming event will have to be greater than 9.5 inches to set a new snowfall record for January, but if we get more than 3 inches, this storm will be in the top 10 highest snowfall events for January in Birmingham.

Bring on the snow!

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather, Met 101/Weather History, Winter Weather