Hard Freeze This Morning...Snow Chances Tonight

The calendar may say it's spring but winter is still hanging on the rest of the week. Not only did we see a hard freeze this morning (temperatures at or below 28), but snow remains in the forecast tonight.

Frigid Start This Morning

Today's record low in Huntsville is 20, so we really weren't too far off from it. That gives you some perspective of how unusual it is to have a morning this cold this time of year. Some of the other cold numbers I saw were:

25 Athens

28 Scottsboro

26 Crossville

28 Albertville

24 Fayetteville

26 Arab

23 Harvest

26 Madison

Unseasonably Chilly This Afternoon

We're only looking at mid to upper 40s for afternoon highs even with sunshine for half of the day! The average highs for today are in the mid to upper 60s, so we're going to be running about 20 degrees below those numbers.

Wintry Precipitation Tonight

Clouds and precipitation are already developing to our west this morning. This moisture and lift will arrive around here later this evening and into the overnight hours. As they interact with the cold air already here, the end result is going to be a wintry mix of sleet and snow tonight.

WAFF 48 Pinpoint Predictor shows the precipitation arriving around 11pm in the Shoals first. It may start off as a rain/sleet mixture but expect a transition over to light snow the rest of the night.

We'll be in the thick of the snow by 3am.

By early Friday morning the atmosphere begins to warm up just enough to start changing the snow over to rain. By 6am snow has changed to rain in the Shoals. A little snow may still be falling along the state line and into southern Tennessee.

The changeover will happen across the area the rest of the morning with just a cold rain falling by lunchtime.

Snow amounts of up to 1/2 inch are possible. The latest forecast guidance shows the greatest chance for any accumulation is to the west of I-65, primarily in a swath from Cullman to the Shoals.

The Bottom Line

In summary we're looking at a wintry mix of precipitation starting late this evening...a rain/sleet mix to start, changing over to snow after midnight. Accumulations, if any, will be light...under 1/2 inch...and mainly on the grass, trees and rooftops. Temperatures staying above freezing overnight and relatively warm ground temperatures should keep any slick spots on the roads to a minimum. We'll change over to a cold rain early in the morning Friday and any snow that did fall will quickly disappear.

As always when it comes to winter weather, check back with us on-air and online for any updates. Right now, however, this looks like less of a nuisance and just more of a curiosity to be talking about snow at the end of March.

Jeff Castle

WAFF 48 Storm Team