A Nice Warm-Up Tomorrow

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…

First off… a note from St. Louis:

“Hi James,
I wrote to you when I was in St. Louis a few weeks ago when they had the sudden temperature drop. Well, I am here again to witness an unbelievable snow storm. Some places have nothing and other have 11 inches. It started here in Chesterfield around 9:30 and is still snowing at 2:00. Visibility is almost zero in some places. When I woke up this morning there was only a little sleet, my husband went to work and no problems. They are going to try to leave at 3:00. Traffic is so bad, people have been stranded in there cars for 1 to 2 hours. The highway patrol said the snow has packed and is like ice on the freeway so you cannot go up any kind of slop. The road crews cannot put the salt down or plow due to the stalled cars and wrecks. I have learned that if you do not have good tires that can make a big difference. This is about the worse this city has ever scene with the traffic. It was coming down so fast that cars were having their wipers to ice up and had to stop to clean the windows off and that caused some major problems. I did take pictures and will email them to you but when I took them we have a lot more snow now and it is like a blizzard still. – Julia Neely from Bessemer”

What a wild winter up north this season.

THE ALABAMA STORY: Clouds will linger much of the night tonight, but the sun should return in full force tomorrow. We will be close to freezing at daybreak, warming into the upper 50s by afternoon. We will warm well into the 60s on Thursday with a partly sunny sky.

FRIDAY FUN: A cold front will move through Alabama Thursday night, which will bring in sharply colder air by Friday. Then, in response to a strong upper trough, a wave will form along the front in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This will spread precipitation across much of Alabama on Friday.

Periods of rain are likely on Friday, and forecast thickness values on both the GFS and the NAM suggest a chance of some snow over parts of North Alabama during the day. The 12Z NAM is the coldest model; hinting at snow as far south as Birmingham. The GFS keeps the snow flakes over the northwest corner of the state, around Muscle Shoals.

**The 18Z NAM is just in the house, and now agrees with the 12Z GFS, keeping the chance of snow flakes mainly over the Tennessee Valley of extreme North Alabama**

The forecast track of the surface low is actually favorable for some snow across extreme North Alabama, but it is hard to be really bullish on any accumulation due to warm soil and air temperatures above freezing. For now we will mention mostly rain for the I-20 corridor with a high only in the upper 40s.

THE WEEKEND: Saturday looks cold and dry with a high in the mid 40s along with a chilly north wind. Then, after a sub-freezing start, Sunday will feature a nice warm-up with a high in the low 60s and a good supply of sunshine.

INTO THE LAND OF VOODOO: The 12Z GFS shows significant storm systems impacting Alabama around March 13, 16, and 19. The wave train is alive and well.

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. We were not able to record a new show last night due to the active weather; we will get the new one done tonight, and it should be available by 10:00 or so.

SPECIAL ABC 33/40 NOAA WEATHER RADIO OFFER: You can purchase a top of the line Midland NOAA Weather Radio at any Handy TV location in this part of Alabama for only $29.95. These receivers have the new digital technology that allows you to choose the counties for which the alarm sounds. Get more information here.

I had a great time speaking to the first graders today at South Shades Crest Elementary School in Hoover… be looking for them on the KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News… the next Weather Xtreme video will be posted here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

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