Early Afternoon Update

A winter storm is developing over the South/Central U.S. that will eventually affect a wide area.

The low-pressure area at the surface is just now developing and its future track will depend greatly on who gets snow and how much. One of our main weather models positions the surface low near the Mississippi/Alabama border at midday Friday with the center near Birmingham at nightfall and along the Tennessee/North Carolina border at midnight tomorrow night.

This would indicate that any snow flurries in Alabama would be a Saturday morning event or maybe late Friday night.

Another major model (the GFS) takes the low on a more southerly track passing across SE Alabama at midday Friday and into NW Georgia at nightfall Friday. By midnight, it has the low near Asheville, North Carolina and at daybreak near Raleigh. This track would give us a better chance of snow.

We are working fast and furious on the afternoon forecast and we hope to be more definitive at that time.

Early this afternoon precipitation had already broken out over South Missouri, NW Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, as well as North/Central and Central Texas. Even a few thunderstorms over Central Texas.

The precipitation is wintry precipitation over extreme North/Central Texas, Southern Oklahoma, extreme North Arkansas and South Missouri. Some Winter Storm Warnings have been posted for some of that area including parts of North Arkansas.

Nothing going on at the moment. The nearest precipitation to the west was near Little Rock and College Station, Texas.

Here in Alabama the raiin should become mixed with or changing to snow over the north at some point Friday night with snow showers or flurries continuing during the morning. The better chance of any accumulating would be over the extreme north, but we have an excellent of seeing flurries or snow showers late Friday night and Saturday morning, even down into Central Alabama. Indeed, one of the models hints at some flurries all the way down to near the coast.

A lot of snow fans are getting very impatient and I understand that. We will have an increasing number of updates as the event gets closer.

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