3:33 pm ET
Tornado watch: A tornado watch has been issued for southern Mississippi and the northern half of Alabama until 7 pm CT.
Using our interactive map, here's a closer look at the suspect thunderstorms along the eastward moving line.
3:10 pm ET
Layer cake of sleet, snow, ice: One important element to note (from our 2:43 pm update) is the fact that many of these outlined areas will initially experience a bout of snow and sleet for several hours (some just a few hours) before temperatures above the surface begin to warm and freezing rain results.
If you live in these areas, it will be a morning where you'll have a layer cake of sleet and snow with Mother Nature's icing on top.
This is a wintry mixture that is tough to not only shovel but especially scrape off of car windshields.
However, that being said, even if there is a period of snow and sleet before the freezing rain; it won't likely alleviate the bad consequences of icing; i.e. downed tree limbs and power lines.
Just something to keep in mind...
2:43 pm ET
Central Appalachian ice: Cities and towns in the Ohio Valley are already reporting freezing drizzle and rain. Numerous road accidents on area highways are resulting this afternoon. This is a sign of things to come in the purple area outlined below.
Winter storm warnings and ice storm warnings are in place.
One of the hardest hit areas tonight and early tomorrow morning will be located in the Alleghany, Shenandoah and Laurel mountains and valleys of West Virginia, Virginia, the panhandle of Maryland and central Pennsylvania.
As we head into midday Wednesday and into the evening hours, the threat will shift farther north and east into northeastern Pennsylvania, north Jersey, eastern New York and finally into southern New England.
1:58 pm ET
It's light but deadly: The freezing drizzle in central Illinois is so very light in nature and the droplets so very small that radar is having a very difficult time in "seeing" the droplets. Suffice to say, though, that freezing drizzle is occurring this afternoon.
A very sad result of the freezing drizzle was a traffic fatality on Interstate 74 in Vermilion, Illinois.
Meanwhile, in a McLean, Illinois, tractor trailers are overturning on the very slick Interstate 55. Because of this, I-55 North is closed.
Here's a Bonk cam from Peoria, Illinois where a mixture of sleet and snow occurred earlier today. At this time, the precipitation has stopped but fog is reducing visibility. You can see the light accumulation of sleet and snow around the tires of the parked cars.
Peoria, Illinois
NCAA Football
GMAC Bowl: Tulsa vs. Ball State,
Ladd-Pebbles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama. Kickoff 8:00 pm ET
Basketball:
NBA
There are 8 games scheduled:
Boston at Charlotte
Houston at Philadelphia
Minnesota at Memphis
Washington at Orlando
LA Clippers at Dallas
New Orleans at LA Lakers
Sacramento at Chicago
NCAA Top 25
There are 6 top 25 games tonight:
#5 UConn at #22 West Virginia
#7 Texas at Arkansas
Alabama at #11 Clemson
Ohio State at #12 Michigan State
#14 Purdue at Penn State
#17 Villanova at Seton Hall
Hockey:
There are 11 NHL games scheduled:
Chicago at Phoenix
Colorado at Nashville
LA Kings at Anaheim
Minnesota at Boston
New Jersey at Carolina
Ottawa at Buffalo
Philadelphia at Washington
Atlanta at Pittsburgh
Columbus at Detroit
Florida at Toronto
San Jose at Calgary
1:40 pm ET
Texas ice photos: A weather.com user named RandomxGirl sent us in three photos of the icing that took place in Forest Hill, Texas, which is a Fort Worth suburb. Here they are!
Forest Hill, TX by RandomxGirl on Jan 5, 2009(Click to Enlarge)
Forest Hill, TX by RandomxGirl on Jan 5, 2009(Click to Enlarge)
Forest Hill, TX by RandomxGirl on Jan 5, 2009(Click to Enlarge)
12:22 pm ET
Core of heaviest rain: Late last week, computer models pointed to a 2-5 inch rainfall targeting north Georgia, upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina. Just yesterday, computer models pushed that target zone farther west into northern Mississippi, northwestern Alabama and central/eastern Tennessee.
Well, it's time to verify the forecast as we are in the midst of the heavy rain. So where did the focus for heaviest rain set up? How 'bout right between the goal posts; yep, the core of heaviest rain fell in between those two target zones.
You can see in the image below that the heaviest rainfall (2.5-4 inches) has and is falling over northern Alabama and north Georgia.
(Click to view current rolling 24-hour totals)
We must caution to say that it is obviously still raining (the heaviest in Mississippi and Tennessee) so in the end, yesterday's computer model runs may eventually verify before everything is said and done.
11:47 am ET
Arkansas icing: Freezing rain made its way into many areas of Arkansas and extreme western Tennessee late last night and early this morning. The same set-up that existed over north Texas also existed over this area.
In this case however, the moisture was more prevalent and the surface temperatures were solidly below 32 degrees. This allowed for some significant icing to take place on tree limbs and power lines.
From local storm reports out of the Memphis, Tennessee NWS office, east-central Arkansas near and along I-40 was an area that was hard hit. Counties such as Cross, St. Francis, Lee, Phillips and Monroe received ice amounts of between 0.25 and 0.50 inches producing power outages as power lines and tree limbs fell.
- Marvell, AR (Phillips Co.): At 5:30 am CT, the Marvell police department reported 0.25 to 0.50 inch of ice on trees and power lines.
- Marianna, AR (Lee Co.): Lee County sheriffs office at 5:30 am CT reported significant icing on trees and power lines with tree limbs down.
- Forrest City, AR (St. Francis Co.): Forrest City police department at 5:40 am CT reported significant icing on trees and power lines.
There were many similar reports from this same area including into the extreme western counties of Tennessee. It is still raining heavily in this area however temperatures have risen into the mid-to-upper 30s for many areas of Arkansas.
Unfortunately the damage has been down with thousands left without power in Arkansas however the good news is that as temperatures climb the ice is likely melting or has melted alleviating the weight off of tree limbs and power lines.
11:04 am ET
Flooding in Alabama: We earlier talked about the very heavy rain falling over the majority of the South.
Flood watches were issued yesterday afternoon by the local offices of the National Weather Service and flooding is currently being realized. We are getting reports from the Huntsville, Alabama, NWS office of street flooding. Here's a few selected reports:
- 8:16 am CT: Bridges reported to be flooded on Needmore Road in Albertville, Alabama. (weather.com note: Generally speaking, many bridges and roads are flooded in the town of Albertville.)
Here's an interactive link to the radar picture in and around Albertville. As of this writing, the town is in a bit of a dry patch but some more rain is building from the south as we type. North central Alabama has received about 2.5-4 inches of rain and that will soon be climbing.
- 9:10 am CT: Flooding reported near Arab, Alabama in Marshall County. Water reported over Scant City Road near Highway 69.
- 9:18 am CT: Near Falkville, Alabama, in Morgan County there is 1-3 inches of water covering road near the intersection of Douglas Road and Highway 55 East.
- 9:44 am CT: Near Anderson, Alabama, in Lauderdale County Highway 156 in the Anderson Community is closed due to high water.
1:11 pm ET Update:
Near Attalla, Alabama in Etowah County, one culvert has been washed away and the main water line into the community has been washed away. This was near Dee Hicks Road just north of US 278.
In Samantha, Alabama (Tuscaloosa Co.), Old Fayette Road was closed due to Binion Creek overflowing its banks.
8:43 am ET
Bonk cams: We're just taking a look at some of the wet scenes across the South from Texas to South Carolina.
Austin, Texas
Oxford, MS (University of Mississippi)
Cullman, Alabama
Greenville, South Carolina
8:14 am ET
Southern soaking:A good soaking of rain fell throughout the South last night and through the overnight hours and it continues this morning.
Here's a look at how much rain has fallen during the past 24 hours. Closing in a little tighter, you can see that the heaviest rain last night fell over northern sections of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
One look at the radar picture and you know that there's more rain to fall through the morning and well into the PM hours.
So not only more heavy rain for the South but you'll notice the pinks and whites on the northern edges of the large swath of rain. Moisture is beginning to move into the shallow colder air mass in northwestern Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. This will be a story that we'll follow this afternoon and Wednesday morning.
7:42 am ET
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 6th, the 6th day of 2009.
Today's Highlight in History: On Jan. 6, 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph, in Morristown,N.J.
On this date:
In 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married in New Kent County, Va.
In 1886, Without warning, the Midwest was hit by the "Great Blizzard of 1886", with up to 100 deaths from subzero temperatures, high winds, and major snowfalls.
In 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of "Four Freedoms": Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.
In 1945, George Herbert Walker Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y.
In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit; four men, including Jeff Gillooly, ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison for their roles in the attack.
In 2006, Hurricane Zeta ends the 2005 hurricane season. Latest end to a hurricane season on record. Previous latest was January 5, 1955.
Today's Birthdays: Bluegrass performer Earl Scruggs is 85. Rock singer-musician Kim Wilson (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) is 58. Rock musician Malcolm Young (AC-DC) is 56. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson is 54. Golfer Nancy Lopez is 52. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kathy Sledge is 50. TV personality Julie Chen (CBS' "The Early Show") is 39. Actor Danny Pintauro ("Who's the Boss?") is 33.
