SOME LATE REPORTS AS OF 10:25PM CST

We now have our first known highway closing. It is Dekalb County Route 89 which has been closed north of Fort Payne due to automobile accidents on the ice. This is the road that leads from highway 35 north along the bow of Lookout Mountain heading toward DeSoto State Park. Reported by Dekalb County EMA.

Major icing occuting in Etowah County on exposed surfaces. Power lines, cars, and trees have a good coat on them and icicles are forming on houses and power lines.

Blount County EMA reports icy bridge on Highway 160 between Cleveland and Nectar.

Ramps closed at Abernathy exit on Interstate 20. That's the first exit inside Alabama from Georgia.

Highway 35 closed due to ice at the Little River Bridge in Dekalb County.

WINTER STORM WARNING
For Blount....Calhoun...Chambers...Cherokee...Clay...Cleburne...Etowa
h...Lee...Randolph...St. Clair...Talladega....Tallapoosa...Colbert...Cullman...DeKalb...Fr
anklin...Jackson...Lauderdale...Lawrence...Limestone...Madison...
Morgan...Marshall.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
For Chilton...Coosa...Elmore...Jefferson...Macon...Russell...Shelby..
.Walker...Winston.

In those latter counties, bridges, overpasses, trees and power lines will become icy. In the Winter Storm Warning counties, ice may accumulate to a thickness of 1/4 inch or more including some 1/2 inch amounts at higher elevations. You are advised to pay close attention because of developing travel problems.

If you are traveling east on I-20, look for bridge icing even in lower elevations. In the Atlanta area, ice may accumulate to 1/4 inch late tonight and Saturday. Further east in Northwestern South Carolina, in the Greenville-Spartanburg area, snow will be mixed with sleet Saturday morning with freezing rain, sleet and snow in the afternoon with snow accumulations of 1 to 3 inches. Freezing rain Saturday night may cause damaging ice accumulations.

LATE 10 pm SPOT REPORTS:
Cullman...32 degrees, mixed precipitation, wind SE gusts to 20
Decatur...33 freezing rain
Fort payne...32 mixed precipitation
Huntsville...34, freezing rain
Anniston...32, freezing rain
Anniston...26 at a private weather station at an elevation of 1201 feet
Birmingham...33, light rain
Tuscaloosa...35, light rain
Mt. Cheaha...24, wind calm (Oh yeah??? That's the report but we feel sure the wind instruments have iced up and stalled)

Be sure and scan down to the comments section and read those reports from our readers. Some excellent reports and we appreciate them all.

A quick peek at temperatures from the ABC 33/40 Pinpoint Neighborhood Weathernet as of 5:45

Clanton 34
Talladega 38
Gadsden 37
Anniston 38
Talladega 38
Demopolis 38
Tuscaloosa 37
Hamilton 39
Legion Field B'ham 39

Other reports:

Mt. Cheaha 30
Collinsville 33
Wedowee 36

Jason Simpson and Bill Castle are on Mt. Cheaha and will be there through the duration of the event. They are set up at the restaurant.. I expect to see some amazing scenes up there after midnight. That is the one place in Alabama that should have a real ice storm!

We will begin live coverage tomorrow morning around 5:00... can't wait to see the live video from Bill and Jason at the first light of day.

ABC 33/40 will show some live shots from atop Mt. Cheaha on the 5 and 6 PM news. At 6, Jason Simpson will be on camera live. He and Chief Photographer, Bill Castle are in place on Cheaha--Alabama's highest point at 2407 feet elevation.

A quick note... the afternoon video update is on the server and ready for viewing:

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

All is back to normal with the video server...

Headed out to see the kids at Helena Elementary this afternoon... be back in the office by 2:30 and will post more notes at that time.

J.B. Elliott is in "wedge central" and will keep the blog current...

Murphy's Law has been in full effect here this morning; equipment issues, Internet connectivity issues, sinus issues. Most of the issues have finally been resolved and I finally have a little time to look at weather data...

Some random thoughts on tonight's event:

*J.B. Elliott is a little more pessimistic for extreme east Alabama... he has some concern that ice might affect some roads and not just the bridges. He is our voice of reason and experience in the office and he has dealt with many wedge events in his long career.

*Looks like the guys at NCEP have only extreme northeast Alabama in their "ice bullseye" for tonight and early tomorrow. It mostly covers north Georgia:

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/day1_pice_gt_25.gif

*The wedge is moving in. Here are some late observations from east Alabama:

Mt. Cheaha 31
Mentone 33
Collinsville 36
Wadley 39

*Rain continues to slowly increase to the west, but it will have a hard time reaching the ground over central and east Alabama until late today. Just got a report of sleet from Clay. The radar echoes look like some sleet is indeed mixed in with the rain in spots.

Will be watching the new 12Z model guidance with interest as it rolls in within the hour.

***Had some problems with the video server this morning; view the web update with this direct link:***

http://video.wjla.com/jamesspann/spann1.wmv

No change in our thinking at all...

This event tonight is mostly a nuisance, and probably not a real "winter storm" for most people. The main issue is bridge icing, mainly east of a line from Huntsville to Pell City to Alexander City, from about 10:00 tonight through 8:00 tomorrow. All points on previous posts here are still valid.

Highlights:

*We drop into the 30s today thanks to a very brisk east wind as the WEDGE arrives. Also, rain drops evaporating before reaching the ground will add to the cooling. Rain should begin reaching the ground this afternoon as the low levels become saturated.

*A cold rain will fall at times tonight and tomorrow. I still think Birmingham gets down to about 33 or 34 degrees and the temperature holds there all night.

*Over east Alabama, some spots will get down to 30 to 32 degrees, and bridges could become icy in spots. The good news is that the rain will be falling through a warm layer just a few thousand feet off the ground, and the rain drops will be relatively warm. This will mean ice will take longer to form, and it also will mean the surface temperatures could actually rise a bit as the rain falls. It might even keep much of east Alabama above freezing.

So, no need to open shelters, buy a weeks worth of milk and bread, or really anything else. Just try to stay off the east Alabama bridges late tonight and early tomorrow.

My advice: Stay home with your family tonight, and everybody sleep late tomorrow. I love sleeping late on cold, rainy mornings. I RARELY get to do that, but the idea sure sounds good to me.

We will be posting frequent updates here through the day, so get your RSS reader active and stay tuned!