Monday, April 14, 2008

Freeze Warning!

There were numerous reports of ice falling from the sky today in North and Central Alabama. There is considerable debate as to whether it was sleet, hail, graupel, or all three.

My friend Mike at work said there was ice on his windshield this morning before he left for work. My theory is that was sleet. I think the precipitation began as sleet. Alabama weather legend J.B. Elliott said just before 2 p.m. that, "There are now numerous very small convective showers. These are producing brief but quick periods of sleet. We have had numerous reports of that across North and Central Alabama....So some of the precipitation can be brief small hail due to the convective nature of the showers. The technical name for that is “grauple” which means small soft hail. It is usually quite small. That term (grauple) has been around forever but rarely used in weather information."

Temperatures will fall quickly tonight under clear skies and will drop to the freezing mark or a little below. In some areas, especially in the northwest corner of the state and in the higher elevations, sub-freezing temperatures may hold on for as long as 6-hours early tomorow. That has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Freeze Warning from midnight tonight until 9 a.m. Tuesday.

1 comment:

the weatherman said...

This freezing temp is still possible..SM Tennessee NW Alabama are mostly have the sub freezing temp and sheltered valleys will,possibly have the coldest temperature..This could be a major severe weather outbreak..We'll i'm looking forward for your updates on this..