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2016 Winter Events:

Several disturbances moved through the region during the month of January. Although these were relatively weak in nature, they did produce two instances of winter weather across the TN Valley. The first occurred on January 20th, when a weak area of low pressure moved northeast along a nearly stationary frontal boundary into the Tennessee valley region, producing mainly light freezing rain during the morning hours of January 20th. Ice accumulations of up to 0.1 inch were observed across portions of Jackson and DeKalb counties in Alabama and Franklin county in Tennessee. Another area of low pressure developed in northeast Texas on January 21st and moved into central Alabama by January 22nd, producing accumulating snow across northern Alabama. Locations south of the TN River saw mainly a dusting up to 0.5 inch of snow, while northern locations received up to 4 inches of snow.

February brought another round of wintry precipitation across portions of the TN Valley. The first occurred February 8th through the 10th, when a powerful cold front and upper level disturbance produced bands of snow showers mainly along and east of Interstate 65. Snowfall amounts of an inch or less were received in north central and northeast Alabama, with a dusting to a half inch in northwest Alabama. A few isolated spots on Brindley Mountain in Morgan and Marshall Counties downstream of a lake effect band off Wheeler Lake received 1-2 inches. Additionally, 4.0 inches fell atop the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee at the Universiry of the South NWS COOP station.