Huntsville, AL

Weather Forecast Office

Heavy Snowfall: February 25, 2015

Overview

Surface/Upper Air

Photos

Snow Totals

Other Links

Overview

On Wednesday, February 25, 2015, many residents of Alabama experienced one of the largest snow storms on record as over 12 inches of snow were unofficially measured along the Highway 278 corridor in Marion County. In addition, much of the northern two-thirds of the state saw snow during the afternoon and evening hours of the 25th, with totals of 1 and 2 inches near Interstate 20 increasing to between 5 and 12 inches across most of northern Alabama. The exception to these higher amounts were found in Colbert, Lauderdale, and northern Lawrence counties in Alabama, which received between 1 and 6 inches. Two to four inches were common further north in Lincoln, Franklin, and Moore counties in Tennessee, with isolated higher amounts around 5 and 6 inches. The highest unofficial measurement in the state of Alabama came from Guin, Alabama, with 12.7 inches.

A cold front had moved through the region the previous weekend bringing arctic air to the Southeast. Temperatures dropped into the teens and were slow to recover through the first half of the work week due to cloudy skies and several rounds of precipitation Sunday through Tuesday.

Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, a 1008 mb area of low pressure developed in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico east of Galveston, TX. This system pushed east by noon to just southwest of New Orleans in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This set the stage for a major winter storm that impacted most of Alabama as the low pressure area moved east northeast across the Jacksonville, Florida area, Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night. This northern gulf low continued to strengthen through the day into the evening hours, as its central pressure dropped to 1000 mb by 6 PM (only 6 hours!!!!). This system had a tremendous amount of moisture, in fact near the 75th percentile for February. Combined with the colder air already in place, this system brought the threat for a very heavy snowfall to the northern 2/3 of the state of Alabama before pushing east into southeastern Georgia by 6 am on Thursday.

One of the interesting things about this storm were the high snowfall rates experienced. Much of the area saw 1 - 2 inches per hour, a rarity for Alabama. The snow was also moisture heavy, making for a very wet and sticky snow, which piled up very quickly. Unfortunately for some, that type of snow also melts very quickly!

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Snow Totals

For a complete list of all snow reports received during/after the event, click here.

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Photos

NW AL Snow(Huntsville WFO)

Athens Courtesy of Micheal Becker	Athens Courtesy of	Phil Campbell Courtesy of Connie Bolden	Phil Campbell Courtesy of Connie Bolden
Phil Campbell Courtesy of Connie Bolden	Phil Campbell Courtesy of Connie Bolden	Athens, AL Courtesy of Krissy Hurley	Russellville Courtesy of Russellville Police Department
Littleville, AL Courtesy of WHNT 19	Tuscumbia, AL Courtesy of Shoals News and Channel WHNT 19	Tuscumbia, AL Courtesy of Shoals News and Channel WHNT 19	Russellville Courtesy of Shoals News and Channel WHNT 19
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N Central AL Snow (Huntsville WFO)

Harvest, AL Courtesy of WHNT 19	Downtown Huntsville Courtesy of Heather Haley	Downtown Huntsville Courtesy of Heather Haley	Cullman Courtesy of Elizabeth McDowell
Downtown Huntsville Courtesy of Jen Drake	Gurley Courtesy of Castillo	Cullman, AL Courtesy of Doug Butts	Falkville, AL Courtesy of Twitter Handle g4org3hill
Good Hope, AL Courtesy of Andi Franka	Good Hope Courtesy of Susan Peek	Madison, ALL Courtesy of Madison Fire Department	Huntsville, AL Courtesy of Jeniffer Saari
Gillespie and Wall Triana: Huntsville,AL Courtesy of	Eva, AL Courtesy of Paul Morgan	Trniity, AL Courtesy of Ken Burrow and WHNT 19	Trinity, AL Courtesy of WHNT 19
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NE AL Snow (Huntsville WFO)

Guntersville, AL Courtesy of Katie Gummerman	Scottsboro, AL Courtesy of Audrey Broussard	Scottsboro Courtesy of Dennis Reynolds	Arab Courtesy of Channel WHNT 19
Guntersville, AL Courtesy of Channel WHNT 19
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S Middle TN (Huntsville WFO)

Decherd, TN
Courtesy of Travis Pack

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Surface/Upper Air

Surface Charts

6am Feb 25th	9am Feb 25th	12pm Feb 25th
3pm Feb 25th	6pm Feb 25th	9pm Feb 25th
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KBMX Soundings

12pm Feb 25th	3pm Feb 25th	6pm Feb 25th
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KFFC Soundings

12pm Feb 25th	3pm Feb 25th	6pm Feb 25th
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KBNA Soundings

12pm Feb 25th	6am Feb 26th
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Upper Air Charts

250mb Chart at 6am Feb 25th	500mb Chart at 6am Feb 25th	850mb Chart at 6am Feb 25th
250mb Chart at 6pm Feb 25th	500mb Chart at 6pm Feb 25th	850mb Chart at 6pm Feb 25th
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Other Links

NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Jackson, MS
NWS Atlanta

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