James Spann: Cold night ahead, with a few snow showers for northeast Alabama
COLD CHRISTMAS EVE: Very cold air continues to roll into Alabama this afternoon. Temperatures are mostly in the 30s and the sky has cleared from Birmingham north and west, but clouds persist to the south and east.
We will continue to mention a chance of snow flurries or snow showers tonight over northeast Alabama; no meaningful accumulation or impact is expected for most places. However, there is still potential for a narrow lake-effect snow band coming off the Tennessee River and Lake Wheeler through parts of Marshall, DeKalb and Cherokee counties. Up to one-half inch is possible on grassy areas in a few spots.
Lingering clouds will move out after midnight, and by daybreak we expect temperatures between 16 and 24 degrees across across north and central Alabama. Friday will be a sunny, cold Christmas with a high between 36 and 42 degrees.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday morning will feature another hard freeze with lows between 15 and 25 degrees. We warm to near 50 degrees Saturday afternoon with a sunny sky. Sunday will be another sunny day with a high in the upper 50s.
NEXT WEEK: A cold front could squeeze out a few sprinkles Monday, but moisture will be very limited and significant rain looks unlikely. A significant storm system will bring rain back into the state late Wednesday, Wednesday night and into Thursday morning; for now, instability looks very limited and severe storms are not expected.
ON THIS DATE IN 1983: The high in Birmingham was only 25 degrees as a bitterly cold Arctic air mass invaded the Deep South, and by Christmas morning the temperature dropped to 2 degrees; it would be the coldest Christmas Day on record.
ON THIS DATE IN 2004: An extremely rare snowstorm hit southeastern Texas. Corpus Christi International Airport officially measured 4.4 inches. This was the second white Christmas ever recorded in Corpus Christi. The other one occurred in 1918, when 0.1 inch was reported.
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