National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

2010 Christmas Day Snowfall

A surface low in the northern Gulf of Mexico along with an upper level disturbance moving southeastward from the Great Plains contributed to an observation of heavy snowfall on Christmas Day, 2010.  The snowfall blanketed much of northern and central Alabama.  Some locations saw the first White Christmas on record, while others just missed out on a White Christmas.  See the map below for the preliminary totals gathered from Co-Op Observers, CoCoRaHS observers, and Local Storm Reports.

The snow first began throughout northwestern Alabama early on Christmas Morning.  Locations such as Byrd and Hamilton in Marion County received between 2 to 2.5 inches, while areas just east of Hackleburg recieved as much as 4 inches.  Locations in the Huntsville County Warning Area were the big winners on snowfall, with most locations around the City of Huntsville receiving up to 3 inches of snowfall, and up to 6.5 inches of snowfall atop Monte Sano Mountain by a CoCoRaHS observer.

As the precipitation developed over central Alabama later that morning, higher elevations saw all snow at the onset.  Many areas to the east of the City of Birmingham received up to 2 inches of snowfall.  The highest elevations in east Alabama saw up to 4 inches, which was reported from atop Mt. Cheaha.  The Birmingham metro area saw the precipitation begin as rainfall for much of the morning, where up to 3 tenths of an inch of rainfall was reported at the Birmingham Airport and the Shelby County Airport.  See the daily precipitation plot that presents the liquid equivalent of all precipitation on Christmas Day here.

The wet, warmer ground conditions in the City of Birmingham and points southward along the Interstate 65 corridor contributed to most of the snow melting as it made contact with the ground.  Only a trace of snow was recorded at the Birmingham International Airport with no snow to measure on the snowboard.  The City of Birmingham has therefore still never recorded a White Christmas since records have been kept, which is nearly 100 years.  You can view the White Christmas history throughout central Alabama by clicking here.

As the precipitation continued to move southeastward through the evening hours, many locations across southeast Alabama observed the rain change over to snow, where areas as far south as Auburn University observed an inch of snowfall.  Areas as far south as Evergreen in Conecuh County, Eufaula in Barbour County, and Ozark in Henry County observed a trace of snowfall as well.

Listed below are snowfall reports across the state, from the highest amounts to the lowest:

Temperatures remained at or below the freezing mark on Dec 26th across the northern half of the state, which lead to little or no snow melt. The snowpack was still visible from satellite on the morning of Dec 27th. The following is a MODIS satellite image from the NASA SPort Center in Huntsville, AL.

1km MODIS Natural Color Image (1633 UTC 12/27/10)