Snow event fizzles out

Published 6:53 pm Saturday, January 31, 2009

Kids, if you thought you might get out for a snow day Monday, think again.

The latest weather forecast from the National Weather Service has ruled out the possibility of any accumulating snow, much less any snow at all.

According to the weather service’s briefing Saturday afternoon, the cold air that could create snow will not arrive in time to cause any of frozen precipitation.

“At this time, it looks like most of the precipitation will move out of the area before the cold air arrives from the North,” the briefing stated.

The only rain/snow mix has been predicted for far northeast Central Alabama Monday night.

On Tuesday, cold air will be arriving in the state, and some light snow could possibly fall in Central Alabama in the afternoon and evening hours. It is expected to stay mostly north of Interstate 20.

The highs Tuesday are expected to be in 40s with lows Wednesday morning in the 20s.

That cold weather is good news for the local peach trees, which have only two weeks left to gain the appropriate chill hours needed for this year.

So far, the trees have collected 860 chill hours through Friday, which is up from 718 at the same time last year.

Experts from the Chilton Research and Extension Center hope to have at least 1,000 chill hours each year.