While other parts of the country are getting buried again today under several inches of snow, we will be dealing with a cold, windy, and rainy day.  Snow is not only unlikely today, it's pretty much not in the cards at all.  However, Tuesday's weather will have a bearing in what's to come later this week.

Behind the rain will be a powerful cold front ushering in very cold air out of Canada that will remain with us all the way through the end of the week.  Highs will generally be in the 40s during the day and in the 20s and 30s at night through the upcoming weekend.  As a low pressure area rides into the Central Gulf on Friday, moisture may be thrust into our cold air mass and some wintry precipitation could be the result.  At this point, NOTHING is definite so far as wintry precip goes so don't go cancelling anything just yet or battening down any hatches.  What we do expect to happen is that SOME moisture will make it into our area by Friday and depending on how cold things are in the upper and mid levels of the atmosphere, we could get a rain/snow mix or possibly an all snow event.  Accumulations are possible but I'm not ready to start throwing out amounts.  Snow is a very "iffy" thing at best here in the Southeast and forecasting the mere occurence of it is hard enough...let alone forecasting amounts.  We should have a much better handle on things by Wednesday so keep checking with us.  Even then, unless all the models zero in on the same solution, there could still be quite a bit of uncertainty.  Just prepare for a cold, wet Friday with the POSSIBILITY that you may have some travel problems.

Precip (no matter what form) should end by early Saturday and the upcoming weekend will be mostly dry.  It will stay cold so if we do get some of the white stuff, it has a pretty decent chance of staying around for a few days without melting.  That's good news if you want to have a snowball fight...bad news if you're travelling.  Again...it's early in this forecast.  Keep checking back with us.

Chris Bailey, CBS 8 Chief Meteorologist
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P.S.  February is traditionally the month we in Alabama start seeing a rise in severe weather.  That includes severe thunderstorms, hail, flooding, and tornadoes.  If your class or civic group would like to arrange a speaker to discuss severe weather in our area and what you can do to keep yourself safe, please don't hesitate to contact us via email or on the phone (334-271-8888).  The entire First Alert Weather Network team is here to help you stay safe from the storm!