A shortwave trough moved into the Mississippi Valley by early January 10, with a surface low moving across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Existing cold air across the northern half of the state supported snowfall, which occurred after 3 AM.
Every event with a place to put it; 20 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.
A shortwave trough moved into the Mississippi Valley by early January 10, with a surface low moving across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Existing cold air across the northern half of the state supported snowfall, which occurred after 3 AM. Moderate to heavy snowfall fell across the Birmingham metro area, the Tuscaloosa area, and most areas north and east. Precipitation began initially as rain and sleet as evaporative cooling greatly reduced dew point depressions at the surface. Many areas saw sleet and snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches during the morning hours, with isolated pockets up to 5 inches in northwestern counties. As a nose of warm air aloft moved in from the southwest, snowfall gradually changed back to sleet, which coated the fresh snowpack. During the daylight hours, many areas warmed above freezing at the surface, with rainfall continuing. Some areas over eastern Central Alabama remained below freezing and were subjected to light freezing rain, which accumulated on trees and other surfaces. Travel impacts were felt throughout the region, with snow and ice-covered roadways leading to numerous vehicle incidents, mainly during the early to mid-morning hours. One fatality occurred in Talladega County due to hypothermia.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 9, 11:02 PM CST, 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Birmingham AL 1102 PM CST Thu Jan 9 2025 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Friday afternoon) Issued at 318 PM CST THU JAN 9 2025 1. Winter Storm conditions are expected across the northern third of Counties in Central Alabama Friday morning through early Friday afternoon, where significant impacts are expected due to accumulating sleet and snow, followed by freezing rain. 2. Winter weather impacts are possible farther south within the Winter Weather Advisory, primarily during the morning hours on Friday. The morning commute will be impacted as a result, with the potential for hazardous driving conditions due to accumulations of sleet and freezing rain. In the Advisory area, temperatures are expected to rise above freezing by Friday afternoon as precipitation becomes all rain. 3. Slick and hazardous road conditions are expected to continue through Saturday morning as temperatures fall below freezing once again Friday night. Any lingering ground moisture is expected to refreeze. Discussion... We are dealing with a difficult forecast for late tonight and Friday due to a late shift in the model guidance, led by the NAM and followed by the global models. The shortwave trough approaching the Mississippi Valley has trended more amplified resulting in a stronger 850 mb low-level jet farther inland over MS/AL and stronger warm advection in the 850-700 mb layer. As precipitation overspreads the western and central counties around 3 AM, forecast soundings are increasingly exhibiting a warm nose around 750 mb, which is expected to be warm enough to cause partial melting of snowflakes. Wet bulb temperatures below this layer should be 2-4 C below freezing, which should allow for the formation of ice pellets. Across our far northern counties, thermal profiles are more supportive of a snow/ice pellet mix within the first 2-4 hours of the onset. By 6 AM, precipitation should be ongoing across most of the forecast area with a potential for accumulating moderate to heavy ice pellets as long as the melting layer aloft remains shallow and colder than +3 C. If this layer is warmer, we'll be looking at an earlier transition to freezing rain in the Winter Weather Advisory area. Along the US-278 corridor, 0.5 to 1 inch snow appears possible before precipitation changes to ice pellets. As warm advection leads to additional warming at 800-750 mb, and where surface temperatures remain below freezing, a transition to freezing is expected in the 7-10 AM time frame from south to north. The best chance for ice accumulations greater than 0.10 inch will be in the Winter Storm Warning area, and in particular to the east of I-65 and north of I-20 in the higher elevations. By noon, a sharp warm nose aloft should eliminate snow and sleet as possible precipitation types. Where cold air lingers in the higher elevations of the northeastern counties, additional freezing rain accumulation may occur. 87/Grantham && .LONG TERM... (Friday night through next Wednesday) Issued at 318 PM CST THU JAN 9 2025 Once the lingering precip finally exits the area Friday night, we will return to a dry but quite cold forecast through the remainder of the next 7 days. Some model ensemble members do try to bring a bit of light precipitation into the far southern counties Sunday night. I think this is a fairly new forecast development, and I would rather wait for later model confirmation or denial of such a thought before getting worried about POP/temp precip type issues. Sunday morning still seems to be the coldest morning. We'll have to watch the lows closely, as big run-to-run and model-to-model changes can come about due to the models' handling of snow cover (or lack thereof). There's another reinforcing shot of cold air that comes in and keeps in the teens and 20 through the mid-week period. /61/ && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1058 PM CST THU JAN 9 2025 Flight conditions will begin to deteriorate within the next few hours as a system brings a wintry mix of SN and PL with potentially some FZRA. This will primarily affect the northern terminals, especially BHM/ASN/ANB while impacts may be less at MGM. However, visibilities will be reduced through a majority of this TAF period once precipitation begins, and ceilings will also gradually drop through the morning hours. As such, our VFR conditions will soon be replaced by IFR/MVFR as precip is beginning to approach a few of the terminals. Wintry precip should begin to transition to RA by 14-17Z with RA ending area- wide by 00-03Z. Winds will shift to the west late in this period as the system passes by. 86/Martin && .FIRE WEATHER... Very dry air is in place this afternoon, but as temperatures drop several degrees this evening, RH values will increase. An approaching storm system will bring increasing moisture and a wintry mix and rain beginning early Friday morning, and lasting through Friday afternoon. 20 foot winds from the east-southwest will increase to 8-12 mph with gusts up to 20 mph on Friday. A front will move through Friday evening bringing dry conditions and light northwest winds for Saturday. RH values on Saturday should remain elevated. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Gadsden 26 35 27 37 / 90 100 50 0 Anniston 26 35 30 39 / 80 100 60 0 Birmingham 30 35 30 38 / 100 100 20 0 Tuscaloosa 32 37 29 41 / 100 100 10 0 Calera 30 36 30 40 / 100 100 30 0 Auburn 31 38 30 42 / 60 100 70 0 Montgomery 33 42 32 43 / 60 100 40 0 Troy 33 46 31 43 / 30 100 60 0 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 6 AM CST Saturday for the following counties: Blount-Calhoun-Cherokee-Cleburne-Etowah-Fayette- Jefferson-Lamar-Marion-St. Clair-Walker-Winston. Winter Weather Advisory until 3 PM CST Friday for the following counties: Autauga-Bibb-Chambers-Chilton-Clay-Coosa-Elmore-Greene- Hale-Lee-Perry-Pickens-Randolph-Shelby-Sumter-Talladega- Tallapoosa-Tuscaloosa. && SHORT TERM...87 LONG TERM....02 AVIATION...86/Martin
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Birmingham AL 615 AM CST Thu Jan 9 2025 ALZ011>015-017>050-101515- Marion-Lamar-Fayette-Winston-Walker-Blount-Etowah-Calhoun-Cherokee- Cleburne-Pickens-Tuscaloosa-Jefferson-Shelby-St. Clair-Talladega- Clay-Randolph-Sumter-Greene-Hale-Perry-Bibb-Chilton-Coosa-Tallapoosa- Chambers-Marengo-Dallas-Autauga-Lowndes-Elmore-Montgomery-Macon- Bullock-Lee-Russell-Pike-Barbour- 615 AM CST Thu Jan 9 2025 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the counties served by the National Weather Service office in Birmingham. .DAY ONE...Outlook through Tonight. The potential for winter weather exists tonight across generally the northern two thirds of Central Alabama. The most impacted areas will be across the north. Impacts will be possible ranging from slick spots to potential difficult travel conditions. Please refer to winter weather products for more specific information. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. The potential for winter weather will continue into Friday through Friday evening across the northern two thirds of Central Alabama. The most impacted areas will be across the north. Impacts will be possible ranging from slick spots to potential difficult travel conditions. Please refer to winter weather products for more specific information. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Activation of storm spotters and emergency management may be needed tonight into Friday. 08
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
19 winter storm, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Sleet and snow amounts of 3 to 5 inches across Marion County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 3 to 5 inches across Winston County. Accumulation of 5 inches measured in Haleyville.
Sleet and snow amounts of 3 to 4 inches across Lamar County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 3 to 4 inches across Fayette County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Walker County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Jefferson County. Two inches was measured officially at the Birmingham Shuttlesworth Airport.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Blount County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Etowah County, followed by light ice accumulation of <0.25 inch.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Cherokee County, followed by light ice accumulation of <0.25 inch.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 3 inches across the northern half of Pickens County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 1 to 4 inches across Tuscaloosa County.
Sleet and snow amounts up to 2 inches across northern Bibb County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 3 inches across Shelby County. Two inches was measured officially at the Shelby County Airport.
Sleet and snow amounts of 2 to 4 inches across Talladega County. One hypothermia-related fatality occurred in a wooded area in Lincoln.
Sleet and snow amounts up to 2 inches across Clay County during the morning hours. Light ice accumulation of <0.25 inch during the afternoon.
Sleet and snow amounts up to 3 inches across Randolph County during the morning hours. Light ice accumulation of <0.25 inch during the afternoon.
Sleet and snow amounts up to 3 inches across Randolph County during the morning hours. Light ice accumulation of <0.25 inch during the afternoon.
Sleet and snow amounts up to 2 inches across Calhoun County.
Sleet and snow amounts of 1 to 3 inches across St. Clair County.
Snow and sleet accumulation of 0.5 to 1 inch across northern Chilton County, with minor travel impacts during the morning hours.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Storm, Talladega | 2025-01-10 | 59 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Alabama, January 2025
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1222727, 1222728, 1222730, 1222732, 1222733, 1222748, 1222749, 1222751, 1222752, 1222735, 1222736, 1222737, 1222738, 1222740, 1222741, 1222743, 1222744, 1222746, 1222747, 1222754.