With the possibility of some freezing rain for parts of east Alabama early Saturday, lets use this space today and define the various kinds of winter precipitation that can foul things up around here:
FREEZING RAIN: This is simply rain in liquid form that falls when the surface temperature is 32 degrees or colder. Once the rain falls, exposed objects are glazed with ice, and a long period of freezing rain is called an ice storm. This is the worst kind of winter weather we can have here in Alabama; lots of freezing rain can mean impossible driving conditions, thousands of downed trees (falling from the weight of the ice), and expended power outages. The last major ice storm in the Birmingham metro area was way back in January 1982, and we are certainly overdue. We need to stress here that we expect only a limited period of freezing rain early Saturday morning over east Alabama; temporary bridge icing is the only issue.
SLEET: These are small ice pellets that fall in frozen form. Sleet rarely produces any significant problems, even on road surfaces. We sometimes see sleet here as precipitation initially falls into very dry and cold air near the surface.
FLURRIES: Very light snow, and when we use that term it pretty much implies no accumulation.
SNOW: This tends to stir up the greatest fuss here in Alabama, but I have learned we actually have more traffic accidents with one inch of rain compared to one inch of snow. But, whenever we forecast snow (even flurries
we all run to the store, buy lots of mile and bread, and stay home from work or school. Just a southern culture thing. For me, I supplement the mild and bread with plenty of Twinkies and Yoo-Hoos.
FREEZING RAIN: This is simply rain in liquid form that falls when the surface temperature is 32 degrees or colder. Once the rain falls, exposed objects are glazed with ice, and a long period of freezing rain is called an ice storm. This is the worst kind of winter weather we can have here in Alabama; lots of freezing rain can mean impossible driving conditions, thousands of downed trees (falling from the weight of the ice), and expended power outages. The last major ice storm in the Birmingham metro area was way back in January 1982, and we are certainly overdue. We need to stress here that we expect only a limited period of freezing rain early Saturday morning over east Alabama; temporary bridge icing is the only issue.
SLEET: These are small ice pellets that fall in frozen form. Sleet rarely produces any significant problems, even on road surfaces. We sometimes see sleet here as precipitation initially falls into very dry and cold air near the surface.
FLURRIES: Very light snow, and when we use that term it pretty much implies no accumulation.
SNOW: This tends to stir up the greatest fuss here in Alabama, but I have learned we actually have more traffic accidents with one inch of rain compared to one inch of snow. But, whenever we forecast snow (even flurries
we all run to the store, buy lots of mile and bread, and stay home from work or school. Just a southern culture thing. For me, I supplement the mild and bread with plenty of Twinkies and Yoo-Hoos.
on January 26, 2005, 9:46 pm
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