A bitterly cold January has many in Alabama eagerly awaiting spring.
Meteorological spring 2025 begins March 1, while astronomical spring follows on March 20, 2025.
Some will get a boost before then when Daylight Saving Time begins and the sun sets later beginning on Sunday, March 9.
Spring for those in Alabama can often be summed up in two words: Severe weather.
Spring is typically Alabama’s most active time for tornadoes, according to National Weather Service data.
Here are tornado numbers for every month of the year in Alabama:
Alabama's busiest months for tornadoes are typically April, March and the November.NWS
But will severe weather be in the cards this year?
Could there be a late-season winter storm?
Long-range weather forecasting still has a long way to go in terms of accuracy, but that doesn’t stop many from trying.
One of those, with a long track record of seasonal forecasts, is the Farmers’ Almanac. The Almanac has been making weather forecasts since its founding in 1818.
The Almanac said that for the United States as a whole, it will be a “Thunder and Zing Spring.”
Forecasters added that spring will be slow to come for many spots in the U.S. this year, with cold weather lingering in the Midwest, Great Lakes, New England and Northeast.
But what will get Alabamians’ attention is this line: “An unusually late winter storm brings a blanket of rain, sleet, and snow across the Atlantic Seaboard and mountainous areas in the Southeast during the first week of April.”
The Almanac divides up the country into regions for its forecasts. Alabama is in the Southeast region, which also includes Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
The Almanac forecast for the Southeast is not surprising: Warm, wet and thundery.
Almanac forecasters think the Southeast will be quicker to warm up this spring than much of the rest of the nation, which could be cooler later into the year.
The Almanac says that the weather this Easter, which falls in 2025 on Sunday, April 20, will be “pleasant” for those in the Southeast.
But the forecast for Memorial Day weekend (from Saturday, May 24, through Tuesday, May 27, 2025), could have heavy rain.
What about the spring forecast for the rest of the U.S.?
The Almanac is predicting the following:
- “Warm, wet and thunder-filled” for the south-central U.S., including Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
- “Mild and dry” for the West, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.
- “Chilly and damp” for the Northwest, including Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
- “Very cool and wet” for the north-central U.S., including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
- “Cool and showery” for the Great Lakes and Midwest including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
- “Cool and wet” for the Northeast, including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
How is the Almanacs’ winter forecast holding up?
The Almanac had predicted that the winter of 2024-2025 would be a “Wet Winter Whirlwind” with wet and cold weather for most locations. However it also said that the Southeast would have a “warmish winter, with above-average temperatures.”
So is that forecast a bust? Can’t say for sure yet. Keep in mind that meteorological winter has still another month to go.
Forecasters had also predicted that “the coldest outbreak of the season will come during the final week of January into the beginning of February, when frigid Arctic air brings a sharp plunge in temperatures almost nationwide, but especially across the Northern Plains. As this very cold air blows across the Great Lakes, heavy snow showers and snow squalls will bring intense bursts of snow to the lee (east) of the Lakes.”
However, the National Weather Service is expecting this week to be on the warmer side for Alabama -- at least compared with last-week’s bitterly cold temperatures and historic Gulf Coast snowstorm.
What about other long-range outlooks?
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has one for the month of February. Those sick of the cold will be happy with it, as it shows a higher-probability of above-average temperatures next month:
The month of February could be warmer than average for Alabama, according to the Climate Prediction Center.Climate Prediction Center
The CPC’s thee-month temperature outlook, shown at the top of this post, also shows a higher probability of above-average temperatures for Alabama through April.