Cold Weather and Developing Low

A low pressure system will throw moisture our way. Will it bring any wintry precipitation? Hello, I'm Meteorologist, Lauren Whisenhunt.

Cold, Arctic air will continue to spill southward the next several days. Overnight lows this Tuesday morning are ranging from the mid-20's to lower 30's. Definitely grab a jacket and bundle up as you head out the door!

For today, another dry cold front will move through Central Alabama reinforcing the cold Canadian air. Highs will struggle to reach 50 degrees today with northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Later on today, an area of low pressure is expected to form in the western Gulf of Mexico. This system will pump lots of moisture our way which will increase our rain chances. The latest forecast models have the precipitation arriving as early as Wednesday afternoon in the form of rain showers. Daytime highs on Wednesday will be in the upper 40's to lower 50's.

With cold air in place over us, there is a possibility that some of this system's moisture may change over to a wintry mix Wednesday night into Thursday morning. However, the latest model runs show that there will be a brief window of only about 2-3 hours around midnight for this possibility. As the moisture falls into dry air, some of it will evaporate causing our atmosphere to cool down. Consequently, some of the precipitation may change over to snow during the evening hours. The best chance of this happening will be north of Interstate 20. However, as we head through Wednesday night, warmer air will build in from the southeast causing temperatures to actually warm up overnight and cause the precipitation to become all rain again before dawn. At this time, we do not expect any significant snow accumulation or major travel problems.

This low pressure system will head up the east coast taking the moisture with it on Thursday. Therefore, expect decreasing chances of rain with highs in the mid to upper 40s.

As we look toward Saturday and Sunday, a strong blast of Arctic air will invade the deep south causing a VERY COLD weekend. Prepare to stay bundled up outside for the rest of the week!