Getting set for our last Storm Alert 2005 stop tonight at Mountaintop Community Church in Vestavia... we begin at 7:00, get there early to get a good seat!

The Wednesday afternoon video is on the server:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

Here are the key points:

*TOMORROW'S GULF STORM: Sure looks like all of the precipitation will stay south of us. I guess you can't rule out the chance of a few ice pellets, snow flakes, or some drizzle late tonight, but no big deal. All of the significant rain will be over the southern third of the state.

*SATURDAY CLIPPER: Little moisture means little chance of rain. Maybe a few sprinkles late in the day, but most of the light snow or rain should stay north of Alabama.

*BIG STORM EARLY NEXT WEEK: This is the next major feature to watch. The latest GFS shows a phased storm, with the surface low moving from Dallas to Nasvhille and then to near Philadelphia. We should get a good rain and storm event Monday night. I am not convinced the air can recover enough for severe weather, but it is not out of the question. Then, strong north winds kick in on Tuesday with another shot of very cold air. Looks like another good freeze for Alabama toward the middle of next week, either Wednesday or Thursday morning.

Beyond that details are muddy; the GFS tries its best to bring a northern branch system through here around March 10-11 with some light snow over north Alabama, but I sure don't buy that yet.

Gotta run get ready for tonight's show... hope to see you there.

LATE MORNING UPDATE
The lowest official temperature in Alabama this morning was 17 at Valley Head in Dekalb County...in some places this was the coldest morning since January. Here is a roundup:

17 in Valley Head
19 in Fort Payne, Gadsden and Black Creek (Heavy frost in Black Creek) and Gaylesville
20 in Pinson and Talladega
21 at Cullman Airport, Florence (Central Heights) and Madison, Wedowee and Russellville
22 in Leeds, Moulton and Hamilton and Jasper
23 in Decatur, Huntsville, Meridianville, Anniston, Mentone and Oxford
24 at Muscle Shoals, Birmingham, Union Grove, Collinsville, Smoke Rise, Clanton and Alexander City
25 atop Mt. Cheaha and at Tuscaloosa, Troy, Alabaster, Inverness
26 in Center Point, Montgomery and Shelby County Airport
27 in Auburn and Taylorville (just south of Tuscaloosa)and Livingston
28 in Evergreen
31 in Selma
34 in Mobile
.....the low of 24 at Smoke Rise, in the SW corner of Blount County, was the coldest since January...a "huge frost" with a low of 21 in the Central Heights section of Florence.

SNOW INFORMATION
.....According to the Mountain City Weather Center in Mountain City, Tenn., schools are still closed in Johnson County today because of snow. There was 4 to 8 inches of snow across the area, however, in the "prime upslope" areas, a foot of snow fell. High winds caused drifts to reach 4.5 feet! This area is in the NE corner of Tennessee.

.....Snow showers in Middle Tennessee produced as much as two inches of snow yesterday. At Nashville Airport there was only a fraction of an inch but some roads were snow covered at times. In most counties around Nashville, the amounts were 1 to 1.5 inches especially east of the city.

.....25-car pileup on I-75 north in Chattanooga area yesterday due to snow

EAST TENNESSE/WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS
1 inches at Gatlinburg (Park headquaters)
8 inches at Cosby, Tenn.
12 inches on Newfound Gap
16 inches atop Mt. Leconte with a low this morning of 4 below zero
20 inches on Mt. Mitchell, N. C., with a low of +3
13 inches at Beech Mountain, N. C.

The Wednesday morning web video update is on the server:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

For people who love weather, this is a great time of the year. The changes are non-stop, and in March you can have everything from snow and ice to severe weather to flooding, and of course, to a beautiful day.

First off don't forget tonight is our final Storm Alert 2005 show of the year; we will be at Mountaintop Community Church in Vestavia at 7:00; hope to see you there.

And, the Southeast Severe Storm Symposium is this weekend over at Mississippi State; if you really love weather and want to learn more this is a great opportunity. I have been a part of this since the beginning four years ago, and it keeps getting bigger and better. Here is more info:

http://www.msstate.edu/org/nwa/symposium.htm

On the docket:

*GULF STORM TOMORROW: All of the models are beginning to agree that the precipitation shield will mostly stay south of us late tonight and tomorrow morning. We can probably remove the chance of light rain or snow flakes, but it might be wise to leave in a few sprinkles just in case.

*SATURDAY CLIPPER: The Alberta clipper on Saturday will swing a cold front down here Saturday night. Once again, precipitation, if any, should be very light due to limited moisture.

*BIG STORM EARLY NEXT WEEK? The models are locking in to a strong storm that is forecast to be south of Phoenix over the weekend. This feature kicks out, and is forecast to phase with a northern branch system to produce a powerful storm somewhere over the southern U.S. early next week. This might bring some heavy rain, maybe even strong thunderstorms, to Alabama. And, once it passes, another shot of unusually cold air for March. We could very well go well below freezing again at some point toward the middle or end of next week.

Any snow possibility? Anytime it gets really cold in March you have to watch for that, but for now there is nothing that really screams snow to us in the maps. The 06Z GFS suggests a change to snow on the back side of the departing storm, but that rarely causes any problems here.

Too early to be specific on the details of the storm system early next week, but it could be a dynamic one and it will be very interesting to see how it evolves!