Just last year, an amazing White Christmas situation affected the Deep South. On Wednesday, December 22nd, an arctic front brought a deep, cold airmass to South Texas. On Christmas Eve morning, an upper low was over Mexico. This upper low would move across Texas on Christmas Eve night, producing some amazing snowfall totals. The snow began on the evening of the 24th, and by Christmas morning, amazed Texas residents were enjoying a traditional White Christmas.

The snowfall of 4.4 inches at Corpus Christi established a new record for a single storm in the Texas coastal city. Nearby Victoria, Texas picked up 13 inches of snow, their first White Christmas in eighty six years. Galveston and Port Aransas, which are directly on the Gulf of Mexico picked up three and four inches of snow respectively. Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas, picked up 1.5 inches, their first measurable snow since 1895.

Further to the east, New Orleans received one half inch of snow on Christmas Day. It marked the only time since weather records began there in 1852 that the Crescent City enjoyed a White Christmas. Measurable snow has only been observed fifteen times in New Orleans. It was the last measurable snow since 1989, when ½ inch fell on December 22, but melted before Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

At 7:20 this evening, most of the rain in Alabama had shifted into the east half of the state.

It was mostly east of the Birmingham-Centreville-Selma area. Some of the heaviest was over Chambers County in the Lafayette area.

Lightning has greatly diminished except in Extreme SW Alabama.

Today's rainfall amounts so far:

0.90 at Birmingham Airport
0.77 at Shelby County Airport
0.74 at Decatur
0.53 in Huntsville
0.93 at Muscle Shoals
0.70 at Ashville
0.94 at Bankhead Lock & Dam
0.75 at Gorgas
0.70 at Hollins (Clay County)
0.54 at Oneonta
0.51 at Jasper
0.79 at Steele
1.10 at Holt (East edge of Tuscaloosa)
Slightly over one inch in Bluff Park (Birmingham area)

Based on radar estimates, some of the heaviest rain fell in NW Alabama over the SE corner of Marion County and the SW corner of Winston County between Natural Bridge and Winfield. Possibly around three inches in that area.

Look for Bill Murrays complete discussion and 7-day forecast later this evening.

The weather on this Christmas Eve was so mild, overall, that it could be called a December thaw. Consider this:

at 5 pm, CST, only an estimated 1/2 of 1% of the land area in the USA had temperatures 32 or lower. (This does not count Alaska)

This estimate is by computers...not me.

5 o'clock temperatures varied from 25 at Gunnison, Colo., to a very warm 86 at Ontario, Calif.

A FEW 5 PM SPOT REPORTS
Chicago...37 light rain and fog
New York...49 clear (Central Park)
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW Airport) 63 clear and windy
Houston 70 partly sunny
Denver 46 partly sunny
Orlando 68 clear
Asheville, N.C., 43 clear
Birmingham 52 moderate rain and fog, an additional 0.20 rainfall in the last hour

At 4:15 on this Christmas Eve afternoon, a line of showers and thunderstorms extended from near Birmingham southward through West Shelby County to mid-way between Centreville and Clanton and then into Dallas and Wilcox County.

The stronger storms were in the south part of the line.

At one point earlier this afternoon there were Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for Clarke, Choctaw and Marengo County. It was believed that some of the storms may have nickle size hail.

Behind the line of showers and storms, rain is extensive over West Alabama. It has been raining over some of that area for several hours. Based on radar estimates, as much as three inches of rain has fallen over SE Marion County, in NW Alabama, with as much as two inches over South Lamar County.

Another area of rain was over East Alabama, places like Anniston, Gadsden, Roanoke and Wedowee.

Rain will be getting heavier in the Birmingham area for the remainder of this afternoon.

A fairly significant band of rain about 55 miles wide extended from Winston and Marion counties southwestward into east central Mississippi just north and west of Meridian. This band was moving slowly eastward while individual showers were moving northeast. Some lightning was observed in this band in the vicinity of Columbus, MS.

In central Alabama, a few light showers had developed ahead of the main rain area from just east of Birmingham southwestward into Marengo County at Linden. These showers were also moving northeastward around 35 mph.

Temperatures were generally in the 50s with mid 40s in the northeast corner of the state around Fort Payne and in the mid 60s at Mobile. Meridian had climbed to 63 as south wind ahead of the front advected warm, moist air northward. The front - at least the wind shift line - was located along the Mississippi River just before noon.

Forecast for Christmas Day is still looking good with temperatures hovering in the 40s with loads of clouds and some light rain. While the cold core upper level disturbance always gives cause for concern, it still seems likely that the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere will remain warm enough to keep precipitation as a cold rain. But it is something that certainly bears watching to be sure the warmth of that lower layer is not over estimated. A good stay tuned scenario.

-Brian-

The Saturday morning map discussion video is on the server at:

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

Clouds increased overnight as an upper level disturbance was positioned over eastern Texas with a cold front located along the Mississippi River. This disturbance and front will move through the area this afternoon and tonight. The greatest likelihood of rain will be this afternoon and this evening. And there might be a few rumbles of thunder mixed in with the rain. In fact, southern Alabama is in an area outlooked for a slight risk of severe weather today and tonight. Instablity will be strong along the Gulf coast with abundant moisture as dewpoints reach into the 60s with air temperatures in the 70s. Combined with good divergence aloft, there is a risk for supercell thunderstorms with the main threat expected to be damaging wind.

Wrap around moisture will keep Alabama cloudy and dreary while cold air advection will keep temperatures from changing much. Temperatures should remain in the 40s Christmas day with drizzle and light rain for much of the day. With a cold core system, temperatures aloft are certainly cold enough for snow but the boundary layer - the lowest couple of thousand feet - is expected to remain warm enough to keep the precipitation liquid. A few snow flurries are not out of the question and this will be one to watch carefully to see how quickly the air near the surface cools.

Dry weather returns for the first of the week and temperatures are expected to moderate fairly quickly. Another rain chance returns for Wednesday and Thursday and again on Saturday as the GFS is forecasting a rather progressive system of low pressure centers and cold fronts - one about every two and a half days. This keeps us on the roller coaster of cold days followed by a couple of milder days through the end of 2005.

Peeking into the longer range, the overall pattern of a long wave trough on the east coast with a fairly high amplitude ridge on the west coast seems to stay with us through the first week of January. This will keep us with below normal temperatures for the most part.

Merry Christmas eve to everyone. God bless.

-Brian-