Winter Storm of February 12-13, 2014

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Surface/Upper Air/Satellite

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An extremely complex weather system brought a unique double snowfall event to Central Alabama on February 11th and again on February 12-13th, 2014. The setup began as an arctic cold front moved across the area on Monday, February 10th. The cold front brought temperatures from the 60s (previous weekend) down to near or just above freezing by Tuesday morning. As moisture from the Gulf of Mexico moved northward to coincide with the colder temperatures during the morning hours on Tuesday, most of Central Alabama experienced a cold rain, while areas along and just south of Highway 278 saw a changeover to sleet and snow. Interestingly, a heavy band of snow formed right along Highway 278, where several inches of snow fell across Marion and Winston Counties in the northwest and Northern Blount, Etowah, and Cherokee Counties in the northeast. The moisture from the first event quickly exited to the east into Northern Georgia by the mid morning hours on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a strong high pressure system was settling across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which is a perfect setup for cold air damming along the East Coast and Southeast U.S. Cold air damming occurs when colder New England air settles and is essentially trapped in between the Smokey Mountains and the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. This allows colder air to settle near the surface, while the air aloft oftentimes remains above freezing (think of cold dense air being heavy and settling close to the surface). Once again, on the heels of the Tuesday early morning storm system, another much stronger system was developing across the Southeastern U.S. For the most part, at least early on, temperatures had warmed to just above freezing, and much of Central Alabama experienced just a cold rain. However, as the cold air damming strengthened Wednesday morning, many of the eastern counties went from a cold rain to an ice storm. Around a quarter-inch of ice or slightly less was seen from Cherokee County, southward into Cleburne, Randolph, Chambers, and Clay Counties. Cheaha State Park experienced the most ice, around one half inch, which knocked out power and brought down thousands of trees throughout the park. This system also led to the epic ice storm that impacted much of the East Coast.

This stronger second system wasn't quite done yet, as the upper level portion of the storm was still gaining strength across the Northern Gulf Coast. A strong deformation zone and TROWAL (Trough of Warm Air Aloft) set up over the northern half of Alabama. A TROWAL is formed by a maturing upper level storm system that pumps significant mid-level moisture around the northern side of the low center, while complex dynamic cooling takes place to quickly lower temperatures below freezing. From west to east (as seen on the snow map below), heavy bands of snow fell across most of the region north of Interstate 20. As the system progressed northeastward, it continued to gain strength. As a result, a heavy snowband setup across the northern half of Jefferson and Blount Counties, which led to locally maximized totals. Again, this is a very rare setup across the area where several non-unique weather events came together in just the right way to cause a prolonged winter weather event, thus creating a very difficult forecast.

Surface/Upper Air/Satellite

6 AM February 12th

250 mb Chart	500 mb Chart	850 mb Chart
Surface Analysis	Surface Analysis & Radar	KBMX Sounding

12 PM February 12th

Surface Analysis at 18Z February 12th

Surface Analysis

Surface Analysis & Radar at 18Z February 12th

Surface Analysis & Radar

KBMX Sounding at 18Z February 12th

Surface Analysis & Radar

6 PM February 12th

250 mb Chart	500 mb Chart	850 mb Chart
Surface Analysis	Surface Analysis & Radar	KBMX Sounding

12 AM February 13th

Surface Analysis at 06Z February 13th

Surface Analysis

Surface Analysis & Radar at 06Z February 13th

Surface Analysis & Radar

6 AM February 13th

250 mb Chart

500 mb Chart

850 mb Chart

Surface Analysis

Surface Analysis & Radar

KBMX Sounding

Satellite Images

Visible Satellite (Regional)

Visible Satellite (Local)

Snow & Ice Totals

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

Northwest Snow

Hamilton Courtesy of Tim Rye	Bear Creek Courtesy of Michelle Taylor Melcher	Cordova Courtesy of Vickie Farris	Hamilton Courtesy of valarie Walker
Dora Courtesy of Kathy Goble Cole	Shiloh Community Courtesy of Lisa Sims Wiginton	Kennedy Courtesy of Scott Bouldin	Haleyville Courtesy of Littlep Taylor
Haleyville Courtesy of Littlep Taylor	Haleyville Courtesy of Littlep Taylor	Corner Courtesy of Robyn Waldrop Pike	Kennedy Courtesy of Malin Freeman
Fayette Courtesy of Fayette Skycam	Quinton Courtesy of Donna Hurley	Guin Courtesy of Guin Skycam

Birmingham Area Snow

Birmingham Airport Courtesy of @me_lion_ulamb	Trussville Courtesy of Stacy Wooten	Downtown Birmingham Courtesy of eclecticash (instagram)	Downtown Birmingham Courtesy of City of Birmingham
Lake View Courtesy of Mark and Mary Parker	Five Points South Courtesy of Amy Perryman Gunter	Fultondale Courtesy of Jennifer Malone	Concord Courtesy of John Talbot
Birmingham Courtesy of Melissa Hope Stewart	Trussville Courtesy of Jason Reed	UAB Courtesy of Samantha Wilson	US 78 @ Finley Blvd Courtesy of Stephanie Jones
Crestwood Courtesy of Lori Sparacio	Forestdale Courtesy of Tori Farris	Downtown Birmingham Courtesy of AJ Fennell	Pinson Courtesy of Johanna Farley
Emerald Valley Resort Courtesy of Carol Wilbanks	Homewood Courtesy of Danny Griffen	East Lake Courtesy of B Monique Jeter	Gardendale Courtesy of Eddie Ford
Red Mountain Expwy Courtesy of Stacy Wooten	Leeds Courtesy of David Gillespie	Trussville Courtesy of Jenny Ellison	Vulcan Courtesy of al.com
Forestdale Courtesy of Tori Farris	Gardendale Courtesy of John Gray	Homewood Courtesy of Will Harris	Fairfield Courtesy of Matthew Romei
Hoover Courtesy of Matthew Grantham	UAB Courtesy of Mark Heim	Hueytown High School Courtesy of Dave Jones

Northeast Snow

Blountsville Courtesy of Melissa Sansing	Margaret Courtesy of Amy Brasher Stuart	Oneonta Courtesy of Scott	Susan Moore Courtesy of Belinda LeCroy
Blount County Courtesy of Paula Stewart	Oneonta Courtesy of Tammy Wingard	Oneonta Courtesy of Blount County EMA	Oneonta Fire Dept Courtesy of Blount County EMA
Remlap Courtesy of Sara Young	Straight Mountain Courtesy of Jan Denson	Snead Courtesy of Belinda/Randy Beeson	Susan Moore Courtesy of Carla Cleveland
Palisades Park Courtesy of Ken Campbell	Locust Fork Courtesy of Weslie Powell	Ranburne Courtesy of Denise/Buddy Turner	Oneonta Courtesy of Blount County EMA
Odenville Courtesy of Odenville Police Dept	Blount Co Hwy 26 Courtesy of Paula Stewart

Northeast/East Ice

Bald Rock (Mt Cheaha) Courtesy of Jordan Shears	Hwy 281 near Mt Cheaha Courtesy of Julie Amelia Smith	Wedowee Courtesy of Jamey Walls	Wedowee Courtesy of Jamey Walls
Mt Cheaha Courtesy of Hayes Jackson	Cheaha State park Courtesy of Alabama State Parks	Cheaha State Park Courtesy of Alabama State Parks	Cheaha State Park Courtesy of Alabama State Parks
Cheaha State Park Courtesy of Alabama State Parks	Cheaha State Park Courtesy of Alabama State Parks	Mountain Longleaf NWR Courtesy of Michelle Miklik	Mountain Longleaf NWR Courtesy of Michelle Miklik

Other Links

NWS Peachtree City, GA

NWS Jackson, MS

NWS Columbia, SC

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