Although it seems as if a day filled with sunshine is a distant memory after the fourth consecutive day of rainfall, meteorologist Scott Unger with the National Weather Service in Calera said sunshine should return in Chilton County no later than Friday.

“This drizzly light rain we have been having each day this week should be coming to an end on Thursday,” Unger said. “We are hoping it will taper off by late Thursday afternoon so we really only have another 24 hours of rain.”

Unger said Chilton County has received roughly four inches of rainfall since Jan. 13 with a quarter inch of rain expected over the next 24-hour period.

“The recent rainfall is a little abnormal for January but we are making up for a very dry November and December,” Unger said. “We are a little above normal for being halfway through the month of January and at this point, we are probably above normal for the whole month of January.”

Unger said with the rain ending, colder temperatures will be arriving with the warmest day of 50 degrees expected for Saturday.

“The beginning of next week will see a dry front bringing in cold air and by Wednesday we could see temperatures around 20 degrees for our low,” Unger said.

Unger said the cold front will bring the lowest temperatures Alabama has seen so far this winter.

Although Unger stressed nothing is certain, he said there is a possibility of a few snowflakes falling across Chilton County between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Thursday.

“I really don’t expect any accumulation but there might be a few snowflakes making Thursday morning a pretty sight,” Unger said. “You might see the temperatures around 38 degrees and think why are snowflakes falling but it will be cold enough in the upper portions of the atmosphere to have a few flurries coming down.”

With the recent rain throughout the area, county engineer Tony Wearren said many dirt roads throughout the county are heavily saturated and muddy creating slippery conditions for motorists.

Wearren said no roads had been closed and there had been no flooding, but dirt roads in the southern part of the county had large amounts of water on them.

“Dirt roads in the southern part of the county typically get a lot more water than the northern part of the county that has more rock in it,” Wearren said. “All of our dirt roads have some low lying areas that will get a lot of water.”

Wearren cautions motorists traveling along the roadways to slow down and take their time when traveling.

“When you hit a particular area with standing water just slow down and take your time,” Wearren said.