Christmas Cold Wave Update (Sunday Evening)
CHRISTMAS COLD WAVE: A bitterly cold, Arctic airmass will invade the Deep South Thursday night, and will persist through the Christmas weekend. Here are some important points as of Sunday morning:
*Ahead of the Arctic front, some rain is likely Thursday afternoon and Thursday night. As cold air rushes into the state, the rain will likely change to light snow or snow flurries over North Alabama late Thursday night into Friday morning.
*This is a “cold air chasing the moisture” setup, which rarely produces meaningful snow accumulation here. Using the reliable European global model ensemble mean, the probability of getting one inch of snow across North Alabama late Thursday night and Friday morning is now less than 10 percent.
*The chance of seeing a few snow flakes over the northern third of the state late Thursday night and Friday morning is fairly high, but the chance of accumulation is low. Heavier snow showers could make the ground white in spots, in grassy areas. We expect no travel impact at this time.
*The focus needs to be on the cold air. Temperatures could reach the single digits across parts of North Alabama by Friday and Saturday morning. The wind chill index will drop into the -5 to -15 degree range Friday.
*Much of North/Central Alabama will go around 75 consecutive hours with sub-freezing temperatures… from early Friday morning until late morning, Monday December 26.
*The Arctic airmass Saturday and Sunday will be very dry; the sky will be mostly sunny on Christmas Day.
*Cold waves like this are a serious threat to people with no adequate heating source. Check on the elderly. Be very, very careful with space heaters. Plan on bringing your pets indoors. Exposed pipes will need to be wrapped with insulation. Learn how to shut off water valves for potential pipe bursts.
*Please don’t be a rube and share the outrageous ”model snow maps” from rogue Facebook accounts like “Uncle Joe’s Tot Locker and Weather Page”. While some do it for fun, others do it maliciously, knowing we will have to spend lots of time we don’t have answering the “Is is true” questions. Think before you share! Some of the “Uncle Joe” pages are still showing a big snow storm on Christmas Day in Alabama, which is nonsense. Christmas Day will be sunny but very cold.
*From a historical perspective, the last time temperatures reached the single digits in Birmingham during the month of December was in 1989… we dropped to 1 degree on December 23 during the peak of the cold wave. We have achieved single lows during the month of December in eight years since 1900; in 1901, 1917, 1925, 1926, 1962, 1981, 1983, and 1989. We might not reach the single digits this year, but it will be a very close call.
*This will be the coldest air in Alabama since January 2, 2018; Birmingham dropped to 11 degrees during that cold wave.
Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS
About the Author (Author Profile)
James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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