Ice Issues Possible Tomorrow Morning

This discussion concerns potential travel issues for tomorrow morning; Brian will be along shortly with the regular discussion and a new Weather Xtreme video.

The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory for freezing rain advisory for parts of North/Central Alabama for late tonight and tomorrow morning…

TIMING: As temperatures fall to freezing, a “wintry mix” of sleet and freezing rain could begin over Northwest Alabama as early as 10:00 p.m. However, the main threat of icy travel will come from roughly 3:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

ACCUMULATION: Precipitation should be light. Some snow is possible over Northwest Alabama, but amounts should be under 1/4″. Ice accumulation will be generally 0.10″ or less. But, understand takes very little ice for travel issues to develop, as we all know.

PLACEMENT: This is the challenging part; for now it looks like the greatest risk of significant wintry precipitation will come generally along and south of U.S. 278 (Hamilton to Cullman to Gadsden), and north I-20 (Tuscaloosa to Birmingham to Anniston).

IMPACT: Temperatures soared into the 60s yesterday, and while we should slowly fall through the 40s today, roads and infrastructure are not as cold, so it looks like the main concern here will be bridge icing, with only limited ice amounts on black top roads. But then again, we are meteorologists and not highway engineers, so we need to ready for ice just about anywhere.

REMEMBER: This forecast can, and probably will change later today. Check for later updates….

ALABAMA POWER IS READY, ARE YOU? Our friends at Alabama Power are monitoring the forecast closely, ready to deploy people and assets to quickly address any outages that might occur. Read a special message from Ike Piggot about their commitment to their customers.

Tags: ice

Category: Alabama's Weather