Columbus gets trace of snow but big winner was East Alabama

The Columbus area got a trace of snow early Saturday, but the big winner for the white stuff was East Alabama with up to 3 inches in come areas, a meteorologist said.

“Most of it melted, thanks to the sun that came out immediately,” said Bob Jeswald, weather forecaster and meteorologist for WRBL-TV3. “Most of the surface was near freezing.”

Jeswald said most accumulation occurred in the northern portions of Lee and Chambers in East Alabama and north in Harris and Meriwether counties in Georgia. Areas with high accumulation were part of a band of snow that stretched from Alexander City and south of Birmingham, including Opelika and farther south to Mobile and Fairhope, Ala.

While East Alabama ranged from 1-3 inches of snow, Jeswald said Meriwether had about a half inch and Pine Mountain Valley recorded about an inch. “Alabama won out on the snow amount,” he said.

Police Capt. William Turner of the Patrol Services Division said the weather had no impact on the streets in Columbus. There were no fallen trees or need for sand on the streets. “We didn’t have any issues,” he said.

Jeswald said Georgia Department of Transportation and Alabama Department of Transportation had trucks out to keep the roads safe. “We never had anything too slippery to cause any travel headaches here,” he said. “I think they did a good job. People were proactive and emergency management made the right call.”

The snow was part of an arctic blast from the Pacific Northwest. The front has situated itself south of the Hudson Bay and has been pulling down air through the central part of the United States. The impact of the front sent snow as far south as Mexico and San Antonio, Texas.

There is no snow in the forecast for Sunday morning but expect low temperatures of 25-27 degrees with highs in the upper 40s. The temperatures are expected to rise during the week, but another cold front is expected for Tuesday and Thursday. “It’s going to be a dry, cold front,” Jeswald said. “Expect a cooler than average week, very December-like.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2017 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Columbus gets trace of snow but big winner was East Alabama."