A large area of moderate to occasionally heavy rain and isolated embedded thunderstorms continues across much of the eastern two-thirds of Alabama on this final day of 2006. The back edge of the rain is fairly clearly defined now on radar extending from near Decatur to just east of Jasper to Centreville to west of Selma. This activity is pushing slowly eastward ahead of a cold front.
A warm front made it as far north as Central Alabama overnight. Areas south of this warm front may still deal with some strong storms through the afternoon hour, mainly east of I-65 and south of I-20. But overall, the activity has weakened a bit during the past hour.
Rain should end in the Birmingham area by noon and over eastern Alabama before dark.
We might see a few peeks of sunshine over western sections this afternoon, with some clearing overnight. But fog and low clouds will develop again during the late evening, giving us a cloudy start to New Years Day. It will be slightly cooler tomorrow, with a morning low in the lower 40s and afternoon highs in the middle to upper 50s. Sunshine will develop during the day.
Temperatures during the day will top out in the middle to upper 50s. Under clear skies tomorrow night the mercury should drop below freezing. Auburn fans will be looking to the west for Cotton Bowl weather, but it should be fine. Look for sunny skies and temperatures warming through the 40s into the 50s during the early game.
Tuesday and Wednesday will feature a good deal of sunshine and mild temperatures in the lower 60s. Wednesday morning will start out near freezing once again. Another storm system will affect Alabama by Thursday, with a good chance of rain and storms Thursday night into Friday. There could be severe weather with this system, so stay tuned.
