The Friday/day after Thanksgiving edition of the Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes as well. We will get back to the “two a day” schedule Monday of next week:
Be sure and scroll down and read the stories about the fifth anniversary of the November 24, 2001 Alabama tornado outbreak, and our state’s greatest November cold wave.
The bitterly cold air over eastern Alaska and the Yukon/Northwest Territories of Alaska is sure getting my attention this morning. Mayo, Canada is reporting 45 degrees below zero as I write this; I am sure some of the smaller communities like Northway, Alaska are near 50 degrees below zero. Here is yesterday’s report from Todd Foisy, our Online Weather Watcher in Girdwood, Alaska, which is in the “warm” part of the state for now:
Girdwood, AK –
High: 3.9° F
Low: -0.8° F
Snow: 0
Snow Depth: 5”
We should note you can see all of the reports from our weather watchers anytime on the web…
That kind of cold in eastern Alaska blows my Alabama mind, especially in November. That air is dropping southward, and some of it (in modified fashion, thank goodness) will reach Alabama in about a week.
THE WEEKEND: Incredibly nice weather today, tomorrow, and Sunday for Alabama and the Deep South. Sunny mild days with highs in the low 70s, and clear chilly nights. We note a big temperature inversion this morning; Anniston is near freezing, while our SKYCAM at Cheaha State Park (elevation 2407 feet) is showing 50 degrees.
NEXT WEEK: We stay dry and mild Monday and Tuesday, as the big time cold moves closer and closer. The ECWMF is now faster with the front than the GFS, a flip from the look we saw earlier in the week. The ECMWF suggests the front moves through on Thursday, while the GFS holds it off until early Friday morning. For now the European model looks like the best solution.
We will highlight a good chance of showers and storms on Thursday of next week (November 30), and SPC has much of Alabama back in a severe weather risk in their day 4-8 outlook. Not a classic severe weather setup, but we all know many tornadoes have touched down in this state with no “classic look” on the maps, so we will sure keep an eye on things next week.
Friday of next week could be very cold. I get the idea we stay in the 30s all day (forget the GFS MOS; it has no clue and cannot handle shallow cold air, especially seven days out) with very cold north wind and maybe some snow flurries. The chance of any significant snow or ice with this looks very tiny at this point. We should be well down in the 20s by Saturday morning, December 2.
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Have a wonderful weekend… again we get back to the regular schedule here Monday of next week. Brian Peters will have the video updates tomorrow and Sunday from some remote outpost in Florida (but they do have Internet access!)….
