Area temps take slow dive to subfreezing
Dec. 23—The arctic blast of air seemed to take its time Thursday night as it slowly reduced temperatures 37 degrees over the course of an 11-hour period.
Temperatures recorded at the Anniston Regional Airport by the National Weather Service showed a temperature of 50 degrees at 10:30 Thursday night following a light rain which began around 8:30 p.m.
The precipitation ended as a trace of light snow at 1:30 Friday morning as the temperatures had fallen to the freezing mark of 32 degrees.
Wind speeds of 20 miles per hour forced the wind chill to 20 degrees at that time.
The mercury continued to fall through the morning hours with the temperature at 9:30 Friday morning recorded at 14 degrees with a wind chill factor of minus 2 degrees.
Those numbers are not expected to climb very quickly as the area remains under a wind chill advisory through Saturday and a hard freeze warning through Sunday.
There were no road problems reported as of 10 a.m. Friday although there remains the need to use some caution due to the possibility of black ice.
Alabama Power reported sporadic outages affecting approximately 133 Calhoun County customers at 10 a.m. Friday, but those numbers were dropping at a quick rate as repairs were being made.
Saturday will be sunny with a high near 27; however, a west wind gusting from 10 to 15 miles per hour will cause the wind chill to be minus 5. Saturday night will be mostly clear with a low of 14 degrees with wind speeds dropping to 5 miles per hour.
Christmas Day will also be sunny with a high near 34 degrees before dropping to a low of 14 degrees that night.
Monday is forecast to be sunny with a high of 40 degrees and a low of 24 degrees.
Tuesday remains sunny with a high of 49 degrees and a low of 27 degrees.
Wednesday will be the first in several days where both the high and low temperatures will be above the freezing mark.
The midweek forecast calls for sunny skies with a high of 56 degrees and a low of 38 degrees.
The real thaw comes Thursday as forecasters are predicting a high of 60 degrees.
Staff Writer Brian Graves: 256-236-1551.
