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This is the hottest August day on record in Birmingham. We reached 105 degrees at 2:00…
FYI… Birmingham’s all time hottest temperature is 107, recorded on July 29, 1930. We are going to give that figure a run for the money during the next 120 minutes.
On the positive side, the dewpoint has mixed down to 52, making the relative humidity only 17 percent. This, indeed, is a “dry heat”. That is why we have not had any heat related deaths during this heat wave (according to the front page story in the Birmingham News this morning), and little activity involving heat related illness in emergency rooms. During the 1980 heat wave, over 120 people lost their life in Alabama. It is all about the origin of the air, and this air is mostly continental, as opposed to tropical.
Other 2:00 readings:
Montgomery 105
Tuscaloosa 104
Muscle Shoals 103
Anniston 102
And, of course, this is now the longest string of 100 degree days on record for Birmingham; this is the ninth day in a row. The old record was 8 days in July 1980.
We should note it is very difficult to measure the temperature properly in this kind of environment, I am getting e-mails from people that have 112 degrees on their backyard thermometer, but that is really the temperature of the enclosure surrounding the sensor instead of the air.
LOOKING AHEAD: The heat might back off slightly over the weekend, but there is a very real chance we will be dealing with triple digit heat through the weekend. We do note increased moisture levels on Saturday and Sunday, which means a few afternoon storms could show up. And, if they do, let me warn you in advance the lightning associated with storms on triple digit days in Alabama can be extremely wicked. And, microbursts are a big problem as well. We will really have to watch any storms that fire up. But, the storms will be widely scattered, and there is still no sign of any major, widespread rain event here for the next seven days.
TROPICAL ACTION: Tropical storm Erin will move into the lower Texas coast early tomorrow morning. This thing might even ramp up into a minimal hurricane by the time of landfall; the water is really warm and outflow looks excellent now. The main impact will still be heavy rain and the risk of flooding along the Texas coastal plain and the Rio Grande valley.
Dean is getting stronger, and the models continue to adjust to the south. I encourage you to watch the Weather Xtreme video to see all of the graphics, but the GFS and the ECMWF now take Dean across the Yucatan peninsula and into the Mexican coast, well south of Brownsville, Texas, late next week. But, a word of caution, model madness often rules during these kind of storms, and there might be more significant changes. But for now, the model flavor of the day is a Mexican landfall with no impact on the U.S. I have to wonder if this thing will become a storm like Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather hosted by David Black and featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can still get in your “guess Dean’s landfall” guess, and a chance to win a very nice prize. Listen to the show for more details.
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. Many, many interesting articles over there today.
I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…..
