NWS Jackson, MS December 4, 2009 snow

RARE EARLY DECEMBER SNOW STORM FOR PORTIONS OF THE ARKLAMISS

On Friday December 4th, and for the second year in a row, an early December snow storm struck southern portions of the ArkLaMiss. This occurred as a strong upper level disturbance helped to induce a low pressure system over the northwest Gulf of Mexico. With a measured 0.7 inches, this was the 3rd earliest measurable snow officially at Jackson. The previous early measurable snow events were:

1) 0.2 Nov 24 1938
2) 0.2 Nov 28 1976
3) 0.7 Dec 4 2009
4) 1.0 Dec 5 1902
5) 0.5 Dec 9 1898 and 0.1 Dec 9 1989 (tie)

Colder air was moving southward into the area as light rain developed over Northeast Louisiana and Southwest Mississippi late Friday afternoon. The precipitation quickly changed to all snow by evening and then moved eastward across Central and South Mississippi during the night, becoming heavy at times south of the Interstate 20 corridor. A significant amount of rain fell initially along the Interstate 59 corridor before changing to snow late Friday evening. All precipitation exited eastern portions of the ArkLaMiss shortly after midnight.

As was the case with last year's December snow storm, very little if any snow fell in extreme Southeast Arkansas and North Central Mississippi. Light snow fell along the Interstate 20 corridor with up to an inch falling from Jackson to Meridian in Central Mississippi. The heaviest snow fell along the Highway 84 corridor, where amounts ranged from two to five inches. Below is a listing of measurable snowfall reports to date, in inches.

Northeast Louisiana

Vidalia	2.0
Jonesville	2.0
Waterproof	1.5
Wildsville (3 West)	1.0
Sicily Island	1.0
Deer Park (4 South)	0.5
St. Joseph	0.5
Tallulah	0.3

Central Mississippi

Mount Olive (4 West)	5.0
Bogue Chitto	4.0
Natchez	3.0
Hazlehurst	3.0
Ruth (4 North)	3.0
Fayette	2.5
Hattiesburg	2.5
Laurel	2.3
Little Springs	2.3
Bassfield	2.0
Braxton	2.0
Brookhaven	2.0
Columbia (8 East)	2.0
Mize	2.0
Moselle	2.0
Prentiss	2.0
Seminary	2.0
Topeka	2.0
Bude	1.5
Forest	1.5
Utica	1.3
D'Lo	1.2
South Jackson	1.2
Richland	1.1
Bay Springs	1.0
Florence	1.0
Bolton	1.0
Meridian	1.0
Morton	1.0
Brandon	1.0
Florence	1.0
Downtown Jackson	0.8
Kingston	0.8
Jackson International Airport	0.7
Canton	0.5
Carthage	0.5
De Kalb	0.5
Newton	0.5
Madison	0.5
Philadelphia	0.5
Ridgeland	0.5
Union	0.5

There have been no reports from Southeast Arkansas received at this time. The National Weather Service in Jackson would like to thank the Emergency Managers, Cooperative Observers, CoCoRaHS observers and the public for these reports. More pictures of the south-central Mississippi snowfall will be displayed as they received over the coming days.