Weather update: Snow is here for Central Alabama, so stay off the roads
The warm air in the atmosphere at 5,000 feet above the surface has started eroding away quickly, and snow is now falling for most north of the I-20 corridor from Leeds to Springville to Oneonta and back to the west of that. A wintry mix is falling over the eastern counties from Gadsden to Lincoln to Talladega and to the east of that.
Temperatures are in the 20s to 30 degrees for the northern half of the area, with low to upper 30s to the south of that. Reports of accumulations are coming in for all across the northern half of the area.
Do not drive in the area being affected by the winter storm tonight. Multiple crashes have been reported across the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa metropolitan areas. Bridges in Birmingham are icing over. Several emergency management and law enforcement agencies have closed roads and issued driving curfews. If it is not an emergency, stay off the roads throughout the night.
Snowfall will continue to spread to the east and southeast as the temperatures fall across the central and southern parts of the area. There is still plenty of moisture moving in from back to our west, so this event should go well into the night and could last until after midnight for the eastern locations.
We are still holding with the accumulation projections from earlier. There will be a few places that may get heavier amounts, and the snow lovers will love that.
For more weather news and information from James Spann, Scott Martin and other members of the James Spann team, visit AlabamaWX.