<p>Hi all - Visiting Tuscaloosa in January for an event. Flying to Atlanta is a lot less expensive, but I’m a little worried about road conditions on the drive to and from Tuscaloosa. Can those of you familiar with Alabama winters please let me know your thoughts?</p>
<p>Usually the roads will be totally clear or just wet with rain, because snow is an uncommon event here. We may have an inch or so once or twice per winter, but usually you can expect clear roads. Was that vague enough? 
</p>
<p>In Birmingham we don’t even have snowplows because when it snows, the schools generally just close so everyone can stay (safely) home and play.</p>
<p>With my travel luck we will hit the once or twice with snow on the ground, lol. Seriously, I think I’ll risk it. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>:) You’re quite welcome! I know what you mean - good old Murphy’s Law!</p>
<p>Snow on the roads? …that would be rare. When we do get some rare snow, it even more rarely accumulates…especially on roads.</p>
<p>I don’t think I-20 has ever had accumulated snow on the roads.</p>
<p>Two years ago , we went to Tuscaloosa to tour the campus. From Atlanta to Tuscaloosa we encountered sleet and ice on the roads. Snow was not in the forecast but the roads were very slick and covered with ice. There were some salt trucks on the road around Birmingham but the overpass on 459 was very treacherous.</p>
<p>I don’t know how often they get these kind of conditions but it was enough to close the UA campus that Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>My D visited campus in January 2011, right at the beginning of the semester. There was an ice storm just around the time that students returned, and for a time the highway between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa was a sheet of ice. I don’t think that’s typical, but it can happen (even if you fly into B’ham instead of Atlanta).</p>
<p>Definitely check the weather before you leave. In January, it could be 60 degrees and sunny, or 30 degrees and sleeting. That’s typical for Alabama.</p>
<p>Thanks all! I’m going to wait a while before booking flights. We will fly Southwest so can be somewhat flexible even after booking.</p>
<p>I’m super careful about weather ever since I booked December flights from Austin to NYC by way of Chicago. Of course I was booking in July so didn’t stop to consider the weather. Lesson learned! :D</p>
<p>Carcode2001 good luck to you! Sometimes we have many days of advance warning that something may be brewing. Then maybe it will happen or maybe the timing will change (cold vs. moisture) and we dodge the bullet. If you want to stay tuned to Alabama weather, here’s a great blog [The</a> Alabama Weather Blog](<a href=“http://www.alabamawx.com/]The”>http://www.alabamawx.com/) James Spann is a wonderful weather forecaster and can often tell us where and when and all the things we want to know. :)</p>
<p>Thank you!!! Bookmarking the blog now :)</p>
<p>Can you suggest a Tuscaloosa news site? Bookmarked TuscaloosaNews.com, wondering if there is another.</p>
<p>Much will depend on time of day that you’d be driving. </p>
<p>I do remember two January days (different years) where roads were questionable, but one was early morning and the other was late at night. If I had been driving during the day (say 10-4), the roads would have been fine.</p>
<p>Ice and sleet are what you need to watch out for, snow probably won’t be much of a problem. And if it does snow it will probably only affect one day of travel at most.</p>
<p>We drove down from Chicago last January the day after the “big” snowstorm that shut down university classes for the day. The roads were clear the whole way. I was told all the snow had melted within a couple of hours. It was sunny and in the upper 50’s when we arrived, no traces of snow.</p>
<p>I’ve also driven from Atlanta to T-town. It’s an easy drive, so long as you don’t leave Atlanta at rush hour, or should I say the really bad rush hours since it always seems like rush hour there! Avoid 7-9 am and 4-7 pm if you can.</p>
<p>Carcode, I read the Tuscaloosa News site to keep up with the local news. I also have the app for CBS42 out of Birmingham.</p>
<p>Unless we repeat the ice storm of 1982 or the blizzard of 1993, icy road conditions only last 24 hours or less. But during that stretch of time only a few bridges will get sanded and No One knows how to drive on the stuff so roads generally shut down.</p>
<p>yes, the weather men in Alabama love a snowstorm and freak all of us out and close schools before it even hits… haha most of the time it’s nothing!! we rarely get anything big but do get a few icy storms… could be bad for a day but nothing that bad- you can always hand out in hotel until roads clear…</p>
<p>Ahhh - the 'Blizzard of '93 - </p>
<p>Wink if your kid is utterly mortified that they were born in December that year…</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>I don’t mean to make lite of the question or the winter road concerns but as someone that grew up where -20F, and 3 feet of snow with roads being snow covered most of the time from late November to late February this has been an amusing conversation.</p>
<p>Snow or ice in the north is never a problem. Lots of snow plows and salt trucks. In the south, no such luck, they just shut everything down. It’s cheaper than buying trucks and salt!</p>
<p>Oh, I understand it is all relative. I lived in Seattle for a couple of years. The first winter there was all the build up about a snow storm coming. I thought big deal. Well we got 3-4 inches and it was a big deal. They don’t have much in the way of snow removal equipment, there are a lot of cars, most people were not accustomed to driving in snow, there are lots of hills and there were wrecks everywhere and you couldn’t get anywhere.</p>