You can scroll down to the morning discussion post for today’s Weather Xtreme video… we are producing only one video per day on our holiday schedule, which continues through January 1. We do back to the regular two a day schedule on Tuesday January 2.
BUZZ ON THE STREET: Yeah yeah, yeah, we have seen the 12Z model runs… everyone wants to talk about Monday night and Tuesday morning. But, other issues have to come first….
TOMORROW: A nice day for the Papajohns.com Bowl at Legion Field; a good supply of sunshine with a kickoff temperature of 59, rising to near 62 during the game. Great day for last minute Christmas shopping or anything else you want to do.
SUNDAY: The next upper trough helps to produce a surface low in the northwest Gulf of Mexico. This will spread more rain into Alabama Sunday afternoon, and especially Sunday night. The NAM/WRF is printing 0.57″ with this one, but it looks like a setup where many Alabama towns will see one inch or more. Maybe some thunderstorms involved Sunday night, but no severe weather.
CHRISTMAS DAY: Rain and storms will end early in the day as colder air moves in. We should be in the 40s all day Monday with a cool north breeze.
BACK TO THE BUZZ: Here is the GFS panel that has everyone talking (valid for midnight Monday night). A word of caution; that might be long gone on the 18Z run that comes out shortly. But, the 12Z GFS shows a strong impulse rotating through Alabama Monday night into early Tuesday, with enough moisture for some light precipitation. Thanks to the dynamic cooling provided by the strong upper trough (the air near the surface really isn’t all that cold), those thickness values suggest light snow or snow flurries.
These kind of setups rarely produce a significant amount of snow, but we will mention flurries for Monday night and early Tuesday, and we can fine tune the forecast over the weekend.
REST OF NEXT WEEK: The weather looks cool and dry Wednesday and Thursday, then some risk of rain returns at the end of the week (Friday December 29).
I am about to get into the vacation mode here; of course in the weather business you really have a hard time taking time off, but my next regularly scheduled day is Monday January 1, 2007. J.B. will be back in the swing of things next week, and thanks in advance to John Oldshue, Brian Peters, and Bill Murray for their help next week while I am away spending time with family!
Have a blessed Christmas.
