Ice Storm — Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2011-01-09 to 2011-01-10 · Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Event narrative

A mixture of freezing rain, snow and sleet fell across the county. Ice began accumulating on sidewalks and elevated roadways shortly after precipitation began to fall, leading to numerous accidents and road closures. One fatality (indirect) was reported as a result of a nine car pileup on Interstate 59 near Coaling. Over one half inch of ice accumulation was reported throughout most of the county.

Wider weather episode

As a low pressure system moved across the northern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday January 9th, moisture pushed northward into Central Alabama, interacting with cold air already in place across the area. The combination of moisture and cold air brought a wintry mix of precipitation to most of Central Alabama, Sunday afternoon through Monday morning. Snowfall totals ranged from 4 to 7 inches across far north Central Alabama to 2 to 4 inches across locations from Vernon to Birmingham to Anniston. South of these locations, ice and sleet were the predominant precipitation type with around .50 inch of ice and between 1 to 3 inches of sleet reported across southern portions of the area.

Light wintry precipitation began to spread into the area during the early afternoon hours on January 9. Even though amounts were light, accumulations were increasing travel concerns and the risk for vehicle accidents. As the strong storm system neared the area, several bands of wintry precipitation moved northward across the area, sometimes becoming quite heavy, with estimated precipitations rates over 1 inch an hour. As snow and ice began to accumulate, travel conditions quickly became hazardous. Several reports of thundersnow were also noted.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 282120. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.