Alabama at Nightfall
A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for a large part of Alabama extending from near the Tennessee River down to south of Montgomery.
Rain is expected to spread into Alabama tonight changing to snow at some point after midnight. The NWS in Birmingham comtemplated a Heavy Snow Warning for a part of Central Alabama, but decided to put it on hold for a time until they could study more data.
If issued, that Heavy Snow Warning would probably be in a band across Central Alabama.
Not much chance of any travel problems developing in the state overnight, but that may change very early Saturday morning. Snow accumulation of about 1 to 3 inches is expected across the I-20 corridor and some heavier amounts south of I-20 between I-20 and US-80.
We are going to be up all night doing blog updates and keeping a close watch on the situation. Even though the snow could become locally heavy, it should not be compared to the Blizzard of 1993 when the entire state was shut down.
We think a plus to this storm is the lack of freezing rain, to any extent. That is the big enemy for trees and power lines. The snow should taper off later Saturday. Sunday morning will be very cold with lows in the teens across the north and central portions.
LATE AFTERNOON SPOT REPORTS
34 in Shreveport with light snow and moderate rain
54 in New Orleans, cloudy
48, cloudy in Jackson
39 and mostly clear,Muscle Shoals
41, clear, Huntsville
48, mostly clear, Birmingham
The latest position report on the low-pressure area, that will be spreading all of this moisture across Alabama, placed the center over the West Gulf of Mexico. Actually it is more over the SW Gulf, but it will be moving NE. Thunderstorms were developing over the NW Gulf in connection with this storm system and rain was rather widespread as far east as the Louisiana coast.
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