The Tuesday morning edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
During the next few weeks a series of storms will develop over the “four corners” region of the Southwest U.S. (where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico come together), and head out across the nation’s heartland. Each system will bring lots of snow in the cold sector, and plenty of rain in the warm sector. And, with each one the snow zone will shift slowly to the east and south.
STORM NUMBER ONE (AL): Lets call the first one Storm Al (I would pick all one go two syllable names like this if I got to name the hurricanes, you know. Easy to pronounce). Al is producing snow this morning in places like Flagstaff, Arizona, and it will bring 6 inches to one foot of snow to the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico during the next 12 to 24 hours. The main snow belt from Al during the next 48 hours will run from Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas northward to South Dakota.
Around here, we stay dry today and tomorrow with a only a slight cooling trend; the models are hinting at upper 60s today and mid 60s tomorrow with a mix of sun and clouds. The rain shield from Al will arrive Thursday afternoon, and a good, beneficial rain is likely Thursday night into Friday. I figure most folks will see between one to two inches of rain, but the guys at HPC keep ramping up the rain totals and their graphics are showing 2 to 3 inches for North Alabama. Seems a little aggressive to me, but I guess it is possible. No severe weather, maybe a little thunder, but mostly plain old rain.
The surface front trailing Al will be parallel to the upper air winds, so it will be in no hurry to move out of the state. In fact, the latest guidance really suggests rain could linger into Saturday over the southern half of the state. We will leave our forecast dry for now, but clouds could linger much of the day Saturday.
STORM NUMBER TWO (BOB): Bob forms over four corners on Saturday, and will spread rain back into Alabama by Sunday afternoon. Looks like a good soaking Sunday night (I am sure Santa has a nice supply of umbrellas) for our state, while another strip of snow is likely in the cold sector of that storm. If you are looking for a White Christmas, Bob will supply that for the general area from Texas northward through eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana. Looks like Dallas has a decent chance at some snow Christmas Eve.
The rain from Bob should end at some point Christmas morning here in Alabama, and a dry slot should bring a little clearing by the afternoon. The weather will be cooler on Monday, but the latest GFS suggests the colder air really won’t get in here until Tuesday of next week. So, I am leaning toward a high Christmas day between 50 and 55, but by Tuesday will have a hard time getting into the 40s.
STORM NUMBER THREE (CINDY): Yet another storm moves out of the Southwest U.S. between Christmas and New Years, and at the moment it looks like the main rain shield from that one will be in here around Saturday December 30.
STORM NUMBER FOUR (DAN): This one seems to have the potential to have some true Arctic air involved, and will impact the state right after the New Year arrives. Lots of rain, then a very sharp change to colder air. Makes you wonder what happens here when the fifth one comes through, huh?
As always, I need to point out that Cindy and Dan are in voodoo land. A very good chance they happen, but timing and specifics are impossible to call at this point.
WEATHERBRAINS: I will post the new episode of WeatherBrains in a few minutes; David Black has a great interview with outgoing NHC Director Max Mayfield.
WEATHERPARTY: Check out the latest weather related news on our sister site anytime, weatherparty.com. Should be lots of weather news in coming weeks.
HOLIDAY SCHEDULE: A reminder J.B. is off this week; he returns Christmas Day, Monday December 25. We will go to our holiday Weather Xtreme video schedule on Thursday… we will be producing only one video per day from Thursday of this week through Monday January 1; we will go back to the two a day schedule on Tuesday January 2.
I know many of you are packing up and getting ready to head out of town; be safe if that is the case. I will still provide two Weather Xtreme videos today and tomorrow… so the next one will be posted by 3:30 this afternoon!
