By Jim Stefkovich, Meteorologist, Alabama Emergency Management Agency
CLANTON – Tuesday 730 am, January 20, 2026
Confidence is high for significant winter weather event across at least the northern half of state Friday night through Sunday.
An upper level system will bring rain showers to much of the state from late Wednesday afternoon into early Friday. An inch or less of total rainfall will occur, mainly over the northern half.
Cold air will filter into Alabama Friday afternoon and evening with temperatures near and north of I-20 dropping below freezing around 12 am Saturday. More on temperatures below but the current forecast calls for below freezing readings near and north of I-20 from 12 am Saturday until at least next Tuesday afternoon.
Precipitation will begin falling across north Alabama by 12 am Saturday and spread across the entire state during the day. Unfortunately, it appears the precipitation will not end until late Sunday afternoon or Monday.
What is still unclear is how far south below freezing temperatures will occur Saturday into Sunday.
For the northern half of the state, especially near and north of I-20:
Freezing rain is most likely, but there could be areas of sleet and snow. The highest chances of accumulating snowfall appears to be near and north of the Tennessee River. I’ve included a probability graphic for amounts of at least 0.25 inch ice, which are amounts where power lines start failing. Some model guidance is showing well over 1 inch of ice accumulation.
Widespread and prolonged power outages as well as extremely dangerous road conditions are a growing concern.
For the southern half of the state:
At this point, mostly a cold rain is forecast but low temperatures Saturday night into Sunday morning are forecast to drop to 32 degrees or below at many locations which would lead to some freezing rain issues. Even low amounts of freezing rain could cause hazardous driving conditions. Sleet and snow seem less likely.
Sunday into Tuesday:
What is going to further compound this event is a reinforcing arctic airmass Sunday into Tuesday. Low temperatures Monday morning will range from the teens north to upper 30s south. On Tuesday morning lows will be in the lower teens north with 20s elsewhere.
Temperatures near and north of I-20 will drop below 20 degrees from around 10 pm – 8 am Sunday night into Monday morning and again Monday night into Tuesday morning.
