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The month of May will begin with summer-like weather for Alabama and the Deep South. The primary storm track over North America will be well to the north of here for the foreseeable future, and temperatures will be above normal. Look for lots of sunshine today, tomorrow, and Wednesday with only scattered cumulus clouds during the peak of the afternoon warmth. Highs will be up in the mid 80s, and some spots over West Alabama will probably reach the upper 80s.
LATER IN THE WEEK: Humidity levels will be rising, and we will introduce the chance of “scattered, mainly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms” for Thursday, Friday, and the weekend. Another words, a pattern that looks more like June instead of early May. The daytime heating process alone, combined with maritime tropical air over the southern U.S., will bring the chance of afternoon showers, but the GFS hints at subtle short waves that might help the process. Daytime temperatures should back off a bit during the latter half of the week due to the impact of those scattered showers.
Unfortunately, rain distribution will be very uneven, but hopefully your neighborhood will pick at least one or two decent showers or storms sometime between Thursday and Sunday.
LONG TERM: Not much change all the way through mid-May; the core of the westerlies over North America will be up north, but occasional weakening cold fronts and weak short waves might bring showers and storms to our state at times. The good news is that this pattern does not favor any severe weather problems here; we have to remember that May is still considered to be the spring tornado season here.
Guess it is almost time for two of my annual posts here; “Spann’s Best Way To The Bama Beaches”, and my discussion of summer weather forecasting in Alabama. Those usually show up during the latter half of May, before the school year ends. Yep, those long, hot summer days are almost here.
WEATHER BRAINS: We will be recording a new WeatherBrains show tonight (our weekly 30 minute podcast); that will be available on the web and on iTunes late tonight or early tomorrow. You can listen to past shows on the WeatherBrains site here.
WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page.
I have a long road trip this morning; I am speaking to the students at Ranburne Elementary School in Cleburne County. Ranburne is a small community very close to the Georgia border, in deep East Alabama. I am looking forward to the trip; I will be back in the office by mid-afternoon and should have the afternoon Weather Xtreme video posted by 3:30 or so this afternoon. Enjoy the day!
