The Tuesday morning edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and also on iTunes:
A CHANGE TO WET WEATHER: Our last really good rain event here was way back on November 15, with just over one inch was measured in Birmingham. There has been no measurable rain in the last 10 days, so some rain is really a good thing. Most of the rain with this incoming short wave will fall from about 12:00 noon today through midnight tonight. The rain is at the northwest corner of Alabama as I write this update, and it will slowly work into the state during the day. We still project rainfall amounts of about one-half inch. No severe weather due to limited instability and wind fields; maybe a little thunder but probably not much. A rather benign rain event as December events go.
NO COLD AIR FOR A WHILE: The air behind the wave is mild, Pacific air, so our weather will remain unseasonably mild for at least the next seven days. Highs in the upper 60s and low 70s, with lows well above freezing. I guess the coldest valleys might see a light freeze early Thursday morning, but most spots will be in the upper 30s or low 40s.
We do note an interesting storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday; that promises to bring wet and windy weather to much of the Florida peninsula on Friday, but that will stay well to the south of here. In fact, our weather looks dry tomorrow all the way through Monday of next week.
LONG RANGE: Watch the video; today I take the 06Z GFS and walk you through each day all the way to Christmas. But, remember, anything beyond seven days is in voodoo country, so use with extreme caution. The model hints at rain with a cold front on December 20, and then another round of rain with a wave on that same front two days later on December 22. After that, some colder air slips in here in the December 23-25 time frame, but nothing extremely cold. Once again, the pattern simply doesn’t look favorable for a super cold Christmas across the Deep South, so the best place to find a white Christmas will be some place up north, as usual.
BILL GRAY ON WEATHERBRAINS: David Black scored a great WeatherBrains (our weekly 30 minute podcast) interview with one of the greats in our science, Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University. The show will be posted shortly; Dr. Gray discusses the 2006 hurricane season, shares his thoughts on the 2007 hurricane season, and on the global warming agenda pushed on the American people by the media and politicians. Some really, really interesting stuff.
I will be headed out to Palmerdale a little later this morning to speak with the senior adults at Palmerdale Baptist Church; I will be back in the office by early afternoon and the next Weather Xtreme video should be posted on time by 3:30 p.m. Enjoy your Tuesday!
