An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below and on iTunes.
What a mixture of weather we have to talk about this morning. Showers were more isolated yesterday than the day before, and I think isolated is what we’ll see today. Showers will be more numerous south of Clanton to the Gulf for this middle day of the Labor Day weekend.
The video starts out with a couple of images from Grenada as Felix slid by plus a couple of Skycam shots from Central Alabama. The big news, outside of the football wins for Auburn and Alabama, is that we might, just might, see some lows in the 60s tonight and Monday night. I peeked very quickly at the climate data for Birmingham and you’ve got to go all the way back to July 24 to find our last low in the 60s. This will be a refreshing change.
The latest water vapor satellite imagery shows the really dry air has moved slightly further north but dew points across the Tennessee Valley were a few degrees lower than in Central and South Alabama. Plus we have a weak wedge setting up today that will bring an easterly breeze our way. We could see a slight drying in the lower atmosphere, but I still think isolated showers will be possible during the heat of the afternoon.
The pattern does not change much through the upcoming week. I bet we see some days with almost no showers but it’s very difficult to tell exactly which ones will be dry. So we mention the possibility of isolated showers each day.
Next weekend the GFS is showing a front getting into the area, but just washing out. This could enhance our chances for rain a bit, but with the front washing out, there will not be an air mass change just yet. That could happen around September 11 or 12 with what appears to be a stronger front.
And also out in voodoo land is the possibility of an Atlantic hurricane around the 14th to the 17th – maybe Gabrielle.
Speaking of tropics, there are lots of posts about the latest, so be sure to scroll down for them. Felix is now a category two storm – and yesterday at this time it appeared it would be three or four days before it reached hurricane strength. Current track forecasts remain in pretty close agreement with a westward track into the Southwest Gulf of Mexico. That’s where we need to be watchful, because the track after that will depend on the strength of the high over Florida and the upper ridge. So stay tuned.
And don’t forget to mark your calendar for November 10th and the Storm Alert Xtreme at the BJCC. The spotter training and severe weather day are free and open to anyone interested in the weather. We plan to start around 8:30 am and end by 3 pm. Hope to see you there.
James will be back with the next video post tomorrow – just one tomorrow because of the holiday – even James Spann needs a little time away from this stuff. Have a great Labor Day, be safe. God bless.
-Brian-
