Friday Chill Gives Way to Monday Warmth

On Friday morning, temperatures set record lows across the Tennessee Valley, with records broken at both official sites (Huntsville and Muscle Shoals) and unofficial records at some cooperative observer sites.

Just three days later, temperatures approached record highs across the area. Here is a list of record lows set on Friday, the highs that were recorded on Monday, and the record highs for Monday. (Our webpage and table showing Friday's record cold follows below.)

*Note: Monday's highs for Valley Head, Cullman, and Guntersville are estimated as of 5pm Monday evening and are unofficial.

Extremely cold weather invaded the Tennessee Valley in early December, breaking records along the way.

In the 100-year history of temperature records in Huntsville, this is only the second time that the low temperature on the first seven days of December was below freezing every morning. The other occurrence was in 1979.

The low of 14 recorded on December 8 was the coldest recorded in Huntsville since December 20, 2004, and set a record low for the date. It is also the coldest reading so early in the season since 1955.

A sampling of other lows across the area for the morning of December 8:

A low temperature of 8º was recorded at Belle Mina (Limestone County). However, other co-located temperature equipment showed a low of 12º this morning. Therefore, we are working to verify the equipment accuracy at Belle Mina. At this point, we consider that low to be questionable but continue to investigate.

A map approximating Friday morning's low temperatures across the Huntsville county warning and forecast area is included below. (The points shown are the lows for several automated stations across the area, including official NWS sites and modernized COOP stations.)