Winter Weather Threat For The River Region
A big change is coming to the forecast on Friday, with a complex winter weather scenario setting up across central Alabama. Temperatures will begin falling overnight tonight thru the AM hours of Friday morning. Rain will begin to move into the river region during this time. It looks like this will begin as rain, then transition to sleet for some areas west of I-65 as early as Friday morning. Most locations should be above freezing for much of Friday, but cold in the mid to upper 30s. More widespread wintry precip is possible Friday night into early Saturday.
It is advisable to avoid travel if at all possible tomorrow evening through Saturday morning, as road conditions could become quite hazardous across the River Region. Along the I-85 corridor, we may see freezing rain begin on Friday night, with ice accumulations as high as a tenth of an inch. As temperatures fall below freezing (which could occur as early as 6-8pm across the Northwest, then for many of our counties by midnight) we will see a transition to sleet and then snow. Our northern and northwest counties will fall below freezing sooner, as so it is expected that the greater snow and sleet accumulations will be in these areas.
Chilton, Coosa, and Tallapoosa counties are under a winter storm warning. These locations will fall below freezing sooner than areas further south. There will also likely be greater precip rates in these areas. Up to 2 inches of snow and sleet are possible for those counties. Areas west of I-65 and north of Hwy 80 may also experience some of the greater accumulations. Areas along and south of I-85 will see lighter amounts of half an inch to 1 inch. For Covington, Pike, and Bullock counties little to no accumulation is expected.
The wintry precip comes to an end by Saturday morning. Skies clear out in the afternoon, but cold air remains in place. Highs will only be in the upper 30s to low 40s. Saturday night will be the coldest night so far in the river region, lows may fall below 20 degrees for many. Saturday will be cold but dry with highs in the lower 40s. Another cold night on Sunday night, with lows in the low to mid 20s. It may be Monday before we see temperatures return to the low 50s. Our next chance for rain looks to be around Wednesday.
