Noon Update: A Cloudy, Raw Wednesday
Rain overspread Alabama overnight and a cold rain continues for the morning hours. By the afternoon, the rain will taper off and become more scattered, but it will remain cloudy and cold. Temperatures are in the upper 30s and lower 40s, so no winter weather issues for the southern two-thirds of the state. However, temperatures across North Alabama are cold enough to support some sleet or freezing rain on the northern periphery of the rain shield across the the state. For locations north of the Interstate 20 corridor, there could be some travel impacts, mainly icy spots on bridges and overpasses for a few hours tomorrow morning roughly before noon. After then, temperatures will climb above well above freezing.
TONIGHT-THURSDAY NIGHT: The models are drying out for this time period, but we are still going to be dealing with more clouds than sun and temperatures near freezing at night, with mid 40s Thursday afternoon. We can almost completely remove the precip in the forecast for now, but there will be some light rain across southern portions of the state.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: These days will be cold and dry with plenty of sunshine and highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s. Nights will be below freezing with mid and upper 20s in the forecast, but once again we are dry, so no winter weather mischief.
NEW YEAR’S EVE: The next potential threat comes as 2017 ends and 2018 beings. The GFS continues to show a developing system to our west which will bring light rain back to Alabama during the day Sunday. Behind the system, very cold Arctic air will be sliding south, and the GFS continues to show the rain changing over to snow Sunday night over portions of Alabama. This could certainly hinder some of the New Year’s Eve festivities, but still a lot to watch in the coming days and it remains simply too early to call; we will continue watch for trends through the week.
BITTERLY COLD START TO 2018: As the weekend system exits Monday, and whatever possible mess it could leave behind, one thing we are expecting is the coldest air so far this winter arriving on New Year’s Day. A deep trough digs down into the Southeast and the floodgates of the Arctic will be wide open spilling frigid air into the U.S. Thankfully the models have been trending a bit warmer, but still temperatures well down into the 20s and teens possible, while highs will likely be in the 30s. The overall pattern shows Arctic air in place for the much of next week, and even more possible for the following week.
WINTRY MISCHIEF TO IMPACT BOWL TRAVEL? Football fans traveling to Atlanta or New Orleans for the Peach and Sugar Bowls will need to pay close attention to forecasts. For now, if the GFS solution materializes, we will have specific forecasts for travel to both games through the weekend. For the Sugar, freezing rain and sleet could affect the I-59 Corridor from Birmingham through Tuscaloosa all the way to Hattiesburg on Sunday, when many fans will be traveling. New Orleans could have a brief period of freezing rain as the precipitation departs Monday morning. For the Peach, light snow could affect I-20/85 between Birmingham and Auburn and Atlanta Sunday night and early Monday morning. Again, too early to tell if the precipitation will impact travel.
Stay warm and dry!
Ryan
