Snowfall on January 16, 2022

Overview

A classic CAD (cold air damming) event occurred along the east side of the Appalachian Mountains on Sunday, January 16th 2022, producing widespread and significant wintry weather to our northeast. Locally, freezing air at the surface was in short supply, though cold air aloft associated with an upper low allowed for reduced freezing levels and subsequent snow for parts of Central Alabama

After plentiful rainfall on the order of one to two inches across Central Alabama Saturday night into early Sunday, we transitioned to lighter precipitation through Sunday afternoon, of which was wrapping around the backside a nearby area of low pressure. From Sunday morning into afternoon, a narrow swath of freezing or near-freezing air at the surface, for at least a few hours, managed to wrap into the southwest side of a surface low moving across the region. Typically you'd expect cold air with snow farther north and warmer air with rain farther south; however, this was a unique situation due to both the nature of the surface low and upper-level low. Rain occurred for most areas along the Interstate 20 corridor with light accumulations of a trace to two inches for some locations just south / between Interstate 20 and Highway 80, within the axis of colder air at the surface wrapping into the low. Snow accumulations were primarily confined to grassy and elevated surfaces. Northeast Alabama was another area that received snow, totaling up to five inches in high-elevation areas.

Here is a Twitter collection of snow reports and photos from across Central Alabama.

Snowfall Map

**Note: Values shown as "0" actually indicate a Trace (<0.1") of snowfall.**

Photos

Eclectic (Elmore Co) Courtesy Haley Edwards	Livingston (Sumter Co) Courtesy Michael Harris	Tallassee (Tallpoosa Co) Courtesy Rich Thomas
Union (Tallapoosa Co) Courtesy Rich Thomas	Coosa Co Courtesy Sharon Blair

Surface Charts

Surface Analysis Jan 16 at 6 am	Surface Analysis Jan 16 at 9 am	Surface Analysis Jan 16 at 12 pm
Surface Analysis Jan 16 at 3 pm	Surface Analysis Jan 16 at 6 pm

Upper Air Charts

250mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 am	500mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 am	850mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 am
250mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 pm	500mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 pm	850mb Analysis Jan 16 at 6 pm
KBMX Sounding Jan 16 at 6 am	KBMX Sounding Jan 16 at 6 pm