Winter weather hits Central Alabama
Published 5:11 pm Friday, January 6, 2017
- Through Friday afternoon, winter weather had little effect on traffic and road conditions in Selma and Dallas County. However, conditions were expected to deteriorate overnight with snow, sleet and ice all in the forecast.
For most of Friday, snow and sleet stayed north of the Selma and Dallas County area, but winter weather was still expected to impact the area in the evening hours.
Icy precipitation started as early at 6 a.m. in northern parts of the state Friday, mixing snow with sleet and rain. Selma received rain much of the day, but was spared any type of winter weather most of the afternoon. The National Weather Service in Birmingham was still projecting a second line of storms to bring winter precipitation to the area Friday night.
The weather service had warned Thursday that the “critical period” for Selma and Dallas County was expected to be between 6 p.m. and midnight Friday when temperatures fell below freezing for the first time all day. With the temp dropping, the weather service had warned that road conditions could deteriorate and pointed visitors on its Facebook page to the Alabama Department of Transportation website.
As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, ALDOT was not reporting any traffic alerts related to winter weather, but a large portion of the storm was still yet to get to central Alabama.
In anticipation of the incoming weather, area schools were closed Friday. Morgan Academy, Meadowview Christian, Ellwood Christian and schools in both the Dallas County and Selma School Systems were out Friday.
That also meant no athletic events and no after school activities, which meant the cancellation of several anticipated basketball games, including Keith-Southside in Orrville.
The city of Selma closed its offices, the Selma-Dallas County Public Library closed at noon and the Dallas County Courthouse was closed.
The southern part of the United States, which rarely sees snow, had been bracing all week for the incoming storm, which will leave Alabama by Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham posted on its Facebook page that there were reports of thundersnow, a winter thunderstorm, in parts of Louisiana.
The storm was expected to continue into Georgia and move up the coast during the weekend. Check selmatimesjournal.com for updates.
