As Snoopy used to start all his novels sitting atop his doghouse with his typewriter: It was a dark and stormy night.

It has been just that across all of central Alabama, with moderate to heavy rainfall punctuated with occasional rumbling thunder. We have been fairly lucky so far with no major reports of flooding in Alabama, as our drainage systems have mostly been able to handle the 3-6 inches of rain that has fallen across west Alabama.

RAIN SHIFTING EAST: The axis of heaviest rainfall is shifting eastward. It generally extends from around Anniston to just west of Montgomery. The shift is due to an approaching shortwave trough to the west of us. The rain should be out of Tuscaloosa by 10, Birmingham by 11:30 and Anniston by 2. It should be gone from Montgomery by 1:30 and Auburn by 3:30. Results may vary by an hour or two, but those are rough estimates.

MUSIC CITY BOWL: Rain is ending in Nashville and some sun may even peek out before the game. Temperatures will start out in the lower 60s and remain there during the game this afternoon.

TONIGHT/SATURDAY MORNING: Tonight and Saturday morning look dry and colder. Expect 40s tonight except over northwest and north Alabama, where places like Hamilton, Cullman, the Shoals and Huntsville will be in the 30s. Highs on Saturday will range from 51 around Hamilton to 62 at Alex City.

ORANGE BOWL: Bama fans are still benefiting from some fine South Florida weather. The only complaint we are hearing is that is too humid. Awwww… The weather for Saturday night’s game with Oklahoma looks fine with partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the 70s and only a small chance of a shower.

ROUND TWO: Rain will return during the afternoon and evening on Saturday as another shortwave pulls moisture back northward. Rainfall amounts by late Saturday night should average one-half to 1 inch. We note that the Global Forecast System is considerably drier than the European model with round two.

ROUND THREE: Expect a few showers during the day on Monday, but as a weaker surface low tracks across the Midwest, a cold front will push another round of rain and some thunder through Monday afternoon or evening. I know that distinction is important to New Year’s Eve revelers, but for now, the Euro predicts the bulk of the rain will be Monday afternoon. We will have to track that.

ROUND FOUR: For now New Year’s Day looks dry, but the final round pushes through on Wednesday, with a few hours of rain possible. The Euro predicts 1-1.5 inches of rain from that system, while the GFS keeps it around until late Thursday and gives us 2 to 3 inches. Stay tuned, as 2019 could start off wet.

SNOW CHANCES ON BACK SIDE: As cold high pressure edges into Alabama, there are hints that there could be enough moisture left for some snow on the back side of the midweek system. The GFS is still bullish on the idea of there being some accumulating snows over north and north central Alabama Thursday afternoon and night. Here is the model depiction of precipitation on Thursday afternoon:

And here is the result in accumulation by Friday night:

So there could be some wintry mischief on the back side of the final round of precipitation. Certainly a plausible scenario. Stay tuned, snow fans.

VOODOO COUNTRY: As if that weren’t voodoo enough for you, let’s go out to the end of the period, around Saturday the 12th, to find another decent wet weather system affecting Alabama. We could see another inch of rain from that system.

ON THIS DATE IN 1958: Albuquerque, New Mexico, recorded 14.2 inches of snow to set its 24-hour snowfall record. That is interesting because on this date in 2018 (today), blizzard warnings are in effect for the Albuquerque metro as 2-6 inches of snow has fallen with winds of 50-60 mph. Another 3-6 inches is expected today at lower elevations.

For more weather news and information from James Spann, Bill Murray and other members of the James Spann team, visit AlabamaWx.