NWS

Days of unrelenting downpours flooded Mobile and prompted the Mayor of Spanish Fort to urge residents to stay home. Swollen rivers rose to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighborhoods and threatening a famed bourbon distillery in the state capital.

The snow is still falling along the Gulf coast, but it’s already considered to be a record breaker. Early reports put the snowfall at Mobile Regional Airport at over six inches and five more in Pensacola. If so, that would break the five inch record in Alabama’s Port City set back in 1881. There was also three inches that fell in 1973 and a dusting in late 2017 and 2018.

Drivers in Mobile County are being urged to temporarily avoid bridges and roads as the Gulf coast shivers its way through what’s being called its first ever blizzard alert. Schools in Mobile, Baldwin, Washington, and Escambia Counties are reported closed through Wednesday. Parents should check with their child’s school for updates. The current snow warning for the Mobile area extends until 6 am Wednesday.

UPDATE— click here for details from the Baldwin, Washington, and Escambia County School systemsYou might call it Alabama’s arctic weather “round two.” Temperatures on Monday morning are expected in the mid-teens with wind chills in the single digits. The Gulf coast is bracing for a near one hundred percent of snow on Tuesday.

The forecast calls for frigid temperatures and the threat of black ice on the roads this weekend. This is Alabama’s second arctic blast in just over a week. The last cold snap left up to seven inches of snow, closed schools, and delayed airline flights.

Forecasters remain concerned over icy conditions in part of Alabama following snowfall that blanketed parts of the state. Temperatures that warmed in the afternoon could freeze this morning when the mercury was expected to drop.

Alabama is gearing up for winter weather. Forecasters say moisture coming from the Gulf of Mexico and cold temperatures from the west is creating freezing rain, snow, and ice. The cold conditions could persist from the Tennessee Valley to the central part of the state. The concern is that temperatures will warm and then freeze again overnight.

Here’s a listing of schools in central and northern Alabama that are closing or holding virtual classes on Friday (1/10/2025) due to the forecast of winter like conditions. Parents should check with their child’s school to confirm operational plans for Friday.

Over forty thousand Alabama homes and businesses were left without electricity following severe weather that blew through overnight. Tornadoes associated with the system reportedly hit in Texas and Mississippi, killing two and injuring six as the system moved east.

The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June first. Early forecasts indicate that this year will have an above average number of storms. The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University is predicting twenty three named storms in 2024, along with eleven hurricanes