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RIGHT NOW: Tropical downpours continue across much of North and Central Alabama as I write this at mid-afternoon. The heavier storms are lined up along I-59 from York and Livingston, to Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Gadsden. The storms are producing lots of lightning and very heavy rain in spots as they move to the northeast. J.B. Elliott reports a brief power outage at his place in Northeast Trussville with heavy heavy rain. Our Skywatcher in Pinson reports marble size hail with the same line of storms. The NWS has just placed St. Clair County under a severe thunderstorm warning.
Showers and storms will slowly diminish once the sun goes down and the air becomes more stable.
TOMORROW: The upper level trough remains west of the state tomorrow, and with a very moist airmass in place (PW values over two inches) and an approaching surface front from the north, I really don’t expect much change. Lots of clouds with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms. Like today, some spots will see heavy amounts of rain.
THURSDAY: The GFS continues the trend of pushing drier air into the northern half of Alabama Thursday, and I guess we will go ahead and buy into that for now. I really have my reservations about that, but run to run consistency has been good. We will change the forecast to “partly sunny” with a high in the low 90s and lower humidity values.
FRIDAY: Moisture moves northward again, and another front drops southward, which means a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms.
THE WEEKEND: I don’t trust the idea of a big push of dry air on Saturday; for now we will mention scattered showers and storms on Saturday, especially south of Birmingham. And, the 12Z run of the GFS moves moist air right back in here on Sunday with a good chance of showers and storms (thanks to vorticity maximum west of the state). For days, the GFS was insisting that Sunday would be bone dry around here. We always have to be suspicious of any big dry surge into Alabama in mid-July.
NEXT WEEK: Looks like moist air will cover Alabama for much of the week with occasional rounds of scattered to numerous showers and storms. Same trend; above normal rainfall with temperatures a little below normal.
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I had a great time today speaking to the senior adults at First Baptist Church of Talledaga; a great audience and a great lunch too. Thanks for having me over! I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow… J.B. and Bill will have updates on the thunderstorm situation for the rest of the afternoon!
