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RADAR THIS AFTERNOON: A few strong thunderstorms have formed over the eastern half of Alabama this afternoon on another sweltering September day. One of the strongest storms was near Anniston at 3:00… other heavy ones were over Cleburne, Clay, Blount, DeKalb, and Randolph Counties. We just received a report of wind damage to a car dealership in Boaz and some power lines downed around 1:50 PM (in Marshall County). The storms are isolated, but where they have formed they pack a punch with lots of lightning and potential for strong winds over scattered areas. All of these storms will die off quickly once the sun goes down.
Otherwise, the heat is the story. Some 3:00 temps include 98 at Muscle Shoals, 97 at Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, and 95 in Gadsden. Humidity levels aren’t that bad, however… Birmingham has a humidity of only 28 percent this hour with a dewpoint in the upper 50s.
REST OF THE WEEK: Highs should be generally in the low 90s tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday with some risk of isolated or widely scattered showers and thunderstorms each afternoon. No widespread rain, but a few lucky neighborhoods will get wet during the peak of the heating process.
WEEKEND PEEK: Some model madness is the story after a look at the 12Z GFS. A surface front will move into North Alabama Saturday, and bring the chance of scattered showers and storms with a high close to 90. Sunday becomes a question as the new GFS shows a closed upper low developing near Memphis, which keeps moisture over Alabama along with a good chance of showers and storms. This is pretty much the opposite of our ongoing forecast, which suggests drier air moving into the state. We won’t make many changes until we see a few more runs. Just understand for now forecast confidence for Sunday is rather low.
NEXT WEEK: If the upper low indeed forms near Memphis, we might have another decent chance at showers Monday, especially over the eastern half of the state. One thing for sure is that temperatures will be cooler next week with highs only in the low 80s. It will finally feel like fall.
TROPICAL ISSUES: Tropical Storm Lisa in the eastern Atlantic will move only slowly to the west/northwest in coming days and won’t be close to any land area. The system to watch is the wave in the eastern Caribbean, which has a great chance of becoming Tropical Storm Matthew. Most models move this toward the Yucatan peninsula this weekend, and beyond that the future of the storm is anyone’s guess. The GFS continues the idea of the system lifting northeast toward Cuba, and then along the Southeast U.S. coast from Miami to Cape Hatteras as October begins. But, the system could very well get into the Gulf of Mexico, which is a big bowl of very warm water and latent oceanic heat content. That could be trouble…. stay tuned…
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I enjoyed a visit this morning to see the senior adults at Piedmont Health Care in Calhoun County… great crowd and they were kind enough to give us a wonderful cake you will see on ABC 33/40 News at 5:00. The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…
