Bridges Starting to Ice on I-20 in Sumter County, Alabama

LATE REPORT 12:24…Ron Hughes in Coker reports heavy sleet in Aliceville, sticking to grassy areas…

NWS Birmingham is extending the winter storm and ice storm warnings back to start at 1 p.m.

Sleet is now reported in Sumter County and James reports numerous reports of sleet around Demopolis.

Just got a report from our friend Josh Johnson in Montgomery that sleet was reported in Prattville.

We could start to see some problems from Sumter, Greene and Hale Counties in the next couple of hours as the precipitation gets heavier. In fact just got areport that I-20 bridges on the Alabama side are starting to ice with temperature 28F.

This composite radar image is overlaid with the surface freezing line (the solid yellow line). It shows cold air at the surface well into South Central Alabama along the US-80 corrdior (York – Selma – Montgomery – Auburn). Some light precipitation is beginning to fall into the colder air. It starts out as snow at higher altitude, then it is melting as it falls through warmer air aloft. Then it is refreezing into sleet if the cold layer near the surface is deep enough, or just falling as rain that freezes on contact with cold objects at the surface (freezing rain).

The airmass over Central Alabama is very dry as evidenced by the dewpoints around 10F. There will be some evaporative cooling as the precipitation evaporates in the dry air. It won’t reach the surface for a while, meaning we may not see widespread precipitation until mid afternoon here in Central Alabama. But the evaporative cooling is going to help retard heating of the day and probably offset a lot of the normal daily rise. Temperatures should top out in the lower to perhaps middle 30s across Central Alabama and fall back below freezing by late afternoon as the evaporative cooling kicks in.

MOBILE
…NWS Mobile calling for up to 1/4 inch of ice from Chatom to Evergree, Greenville, Andaluisa and Luverne with a winter weather advisory posted..then with 1/4 inch from Butler to Thomasville to Camden to Fort Deposit…ice storm warning in effect.

MORE REPORTS
Keeping an eye on 8 NWS offices from Fort Worth to Birmingham right now…
…2 inches of snow from Lake Village in Chicot CO AR.
…3 inches of sleet and snow around Eudora AR
…Monticello Ar…just NW of Greenville…1/2 mile visibility in moderate snow
…Sunflower County MS…around Inverness and Indianola…bridges iced over solid…sleet covering ground
…bridges icing over in southern Kemper Co MS…this is north of Meridian and west of Sumter County, Alabama.
…Three accidents in Meridian some with injuries…emergency vehicle slid down 65th street bridge…this is the activity pushing into Sumter and Green Counties now…so be alert down there…
…Icicles on powerlines in Meridian
…Ice on bridges in Lauderdale County MS…near Philadelphia…

FROM SHREVEPORT
…Their initial data from the noon balloon launch shows the warm nose over their area is eroding as the upper disturbance spreads cooling into their area. They are expecting a changeover to snow.
…1/4 inch of ice from freezing rain at Shongaloo in Webster County, LA…thanks almost into Arkansas, north of Minden, or just northeast of Shreveport.

DALLAS
…Our good friend and Kevin Selle’s associate…Colleen Coyle reports big flakes flying around Midtown Dallas…sticking on cars…

Category: Alabama's Weather, Winter Weather