We officially launch our new blog format today. Still plenty of minor issues to work out, but we are now using the WordPress platform, which is much more robust. We should easily defeat the SPAM bots (they put nasty things in our comment section, and were starting to defeat the verification codes on the old blog), and allow you to make comments without entering those codes.
The Weather Xtreme video is available above, and as always it is on iTunes as well. I will try to get the “full screen” button back on the player later today; one minor bug that has shown up. But, with our new format we are able to offer the embedded video on the blog(and all viewer pictures) 640 pixels wide.
A BENIGN WEEK: Looks like a relatively quiet week in the weather office. Today will feature maximum sunshine and a high well into the 70s. Clouds will return tomorrow, and we will mention the risk of a few showers late tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night, and on Wednesday with a weak front that will take its time in moving through the state. But, with only limited moisture and dynamics, rainfall with this should be light and spotty. The NAM/WRF is the most aggressive model with rain; it is showing 0.70″ for Birmingham, but the GFS prints only 0.09″, which looks more reasonable to us.
TRICK OR TREAT WEATHER: With the front slipping in here, a few showers will be around when the kids are doing their thing tomorrow evening, but we don’t expect any thunder or lightning, and rain should be pretty light. Hopefully it won’t be too much of a problem.
Cooler air begins to return later in the week; highs drop back into the 60s, and by early Friday and Saturday morning the colder spots will be in the 30s. For now it looks like the coolest readings will come early Saturday, when some light frost is possible in the colder valleys.
WEEKEND PEEK: The weather looks delightful Saturday and Sunday. Lots of sun, pleasant afternoons and chilly nights. Another great weekend for football.
LONG RANGE: Looks like next week will be much more active; the GFS shows a dynamic system sweeping in here a week from tomorrow (election day, Tuesday 11/7), which might offer the risk of strong to severe storms. Another setup for strong storms shows up around November 10. We are now in our fall tornado season… so we will have to be on our toes.
Thanks to all of you who watched our special on ABC 33/40 last night, “A Decade of Alabama Weather”. If you missed it, I will try to post it on the web tonight or tomorrow. Bill Castle did a great job of putting the show together. I will be speaking at New Covenent Academy today (out in the Pinson area); the next Weather Xtreme video will be up on the web by 3:30 this afternoon. Enjoy your Monday!
