The front pages of newspapers around the country were dominated by reports from the different theatres of World War II. The main headlines carried news about the meeting between the Big Three (FDR, Churchill and Stalin) in the Crimea. Plans for postwar Europe were already being discussed even as Allied troops closed in on Berlin from the East, West and South. The Russians were nearing Dresden as the Canadians drove on Wesel. The American Third Army, under General Eisenhower, had opened a 145 mile front inside Germany. Over one million Allied Troops were inside the country.

But there were tragic news reports from the Deep South, where a series of tornadoes dealt death and destruction across parts of Mississippi and Alabama. The problems began when a tornado cut a path across Meridian, killing at least seven people. The same storm produced another tornado that touched down about 4:30 p.m. near York in Sumter County. The F4 monster moved along an 18 mile path, passing near Livingston. One person was reportedly killed at York and another nine near Livingston. Thirty nine of forty one cars of a freight train were derailed on a trestle over the Suchanoochee River. The conductor and fireman on the train were killed and many others injured.

Less than one hour later, the same storm system spawned an F3 tornado that ripped across the southern and western side of Montgomery. This tornado would be the deadliest of the day, killing at least 26 people. This twister created spectacular damage as it crossed rail yards, demolishing over fifty rail cars. The entire city of Montgomery was left without electricity for several hours. Governor Chauncey Sparks ordered the National Guard into duty to prevent looting. Two government warehouses and 35 homes were destroyed in the cotton mill community of Chisholm, on the north side of Montgomery.

Snow showers have decreased in number across Central Alabama tonight, at least temporarily.

However they are not out of our weather picture yet. Others will occur during the night producing brief heavy spurts of snow.

The ground is white in many areas and temperatures are dropping toward the freezing mark. It is likely that the temperature will fall below freezing before the snow has time to melt.

That may create some thin layers of ice especially on lesser traveled roads. So please watch for that later tonight and Sunday morning.

The temperature was already down to 31 in Clay soon after 9 pm. In North Cullman County, 3340 Weather Watcher Mike Wilhelm reported one inch of snow accumulating in only one hour earlier tonight.

This email report from Tuscaloosa County is typical:

I'm sure everyone is writing you but wanted to let you know how things are here.... We are in Northport... about 13 miles UP 69 North (right up past Yellow Creek Road). When we got home this evening we have 1/2 inch to 1 inch of snow on EVERYTHING except the road. We even let our 3 Labs out to play in it.. they had so much fun... first snow for them.
Well that's the update from northern Northport... hope your night calms down some
Angela and James O'Neal

Now we turn our eyes northward where a large area of snow showers was spreading southward through Middle Tennessee. These will be spreading into North Alabama later but we are not sure if they will reach Central Alabama. Because of those new snow showers the National Weather Service in Huntsville has isued a snow advisory until 4 am Sunday for the following North Alabama counties:

Lawrence
Limestone
Madison
Morgan
Marshall
Jackson
Dekalb
Cullman

Including the cities of:

Moulton
Athens
Huntsville
Decatur
Guntersville
Scottsboro
Fort Payne
Cullman

We will be here all night to watch this wintry weather.

From the Pine Mountain area in far north Jefferson County:

There are not as many snow showers around the countryside now but some of them are still moderate to heavy.

The ground has become white in many areas and in a few spots the snow accumulation is an inch or more.

With temperatures expected to drop below freezing tonight, we believe that you should pay close attention Sunday morning to some possible ice issues. All of the snow may not melt overnight.

A report from the Trimble and Guthry's Crossroads community in Cullman County told of snow accumulations of around one inch and maybe 1.5 inches.

From Marion County, a report of 1/2 to 1 inch although 3 inches on his truck. Everything was covered but the roads.

John Oldshue and Jason Simpson are "snow shower chasing" and were approaching the Clanton area in Chilton County trying to outrun a big snow shower before it crossed Interstate 65.

More snow pictures... these from Springville:

Numerous snow showers continue to move SE across North and Central Alabama. In a number of areas, the snow has been heavy enough to whiten rooftops and even yards.

Just before 6:00 p.m., the Grayson Valley Golf Course on the NE side of Birmingham was completely white.

Bill Murry reported the ground white at his hime in South Trussville. Same story at my place in NE Trussville.

We had a report from Debby Clayton in exreme NE Jefferson County NE of Clay, that she had seen some of the largest snowflakes she has ever seen.

The visibility dropped to 1/4 mile at times at Muscle Shoals in NW Alabama.

The ground was also beginning to get white at Greystone Cove in North Shelby County.

The temperature has dropped to 32 in Cullman and to a little under 31 in Hamilton. That concerns us a bit. If these snow showers continue this heavy and the temperature continues to fall, we cannot rule out the possibility of some spotty icing problems.

We will need to watch that closely over the next few hours.

The snow showers have been reported all the way from the Tennessee border, down into Central Alabmaa as far south as the Tuscaloosa area and down into Shelby and Talladega Counties.

We will watch and wait.

Many, many reports of snow showers over the northern half of the state. Here are some pictures from the Grayson Valley/Trussville area:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
509 PM CST SAT FEB 11 2006

ALZ002>004-007>010-016-TNZ097-120100-
COLBERT-CULLMAN-DE KALB-FRANKLIN AL-FRANKLIN TN-JACKSON-LAWRENCE-
MARSHALL-MORGAN-
509 PM CST SAT FEB 11 2006

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT FOR MODERATE SNOW SHOWERS...

SEVERAL BANDS OF MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS
CONTINUE TO AFFECT PARTS OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY. THE HEAVIEST
BANDS HAVE OCCURRED IN EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY TENNESSEE...AND
FROM THE SHOALS SOUTHEAST THROUGH LAWRENCE INTO CULLMAN
COUNTIES. REPORTS OF 1/2 INCH OF SNOW...MAINLY ON GRASSY
AREAS...HAS ALREADY BEEN RECEIVED WITH THESE BANDS OF SNOW.
ANOTHER AREA OF HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS WAS OCCURRING OVER JACKSON
AND DEKALB COUNTIES.

MOTORISTS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER
CONDITIONS...AND DRIVE WITH EXTRA CAUTION. THESE SNOW BANDS
CAN COME UPON YOU QUICKLY...OVER A SHORT DISTANCE...WITH QUICK
REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY.

Snow showers are now widespread over a large part of North and Central Alabama. Radar shows that the snow showers extend all the way down into Central Alabama and as far west as Mississippi and even Eastern Arkansas. They are moving toward the SE rather quickly.

The showers have been heavy enough to whiten grassy areas in some places and we even had reports of throwing snowballs at Winfield in Marion County and also in SE Franklin County.

My friend, MarkLawley, reports flurries beginning in Leeds around 4:30 p.m. Heavy snow showers have been reported in Grayson Valley and also in the NE part of Trussville. At one time, visibility had dropped to 1/2 mile in Trussville with some minor accumulation on rooftops.

The National Weather Service in Huntsville reports heavy snow with visibility of only 1/4 mile at Muscle Shoals Airport in the NW corner of the state.

James Spann reports a moderate snow shower with "very large nice flakes" at Greystone Cove in North Shelby County.

A decent snow shower reported in Hueytown.

A 5-minute snow shower in Jasper at 3:45 p.m.--flakes were big.

Unless these snow showers persist for a long time, they should not cause travel problems, but we will watch it closely. Temperatures are still above freezing, but will be falling over the next several hours.