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Long time readers understand that October happens to be my favorite month of the year (same for J.B. Elliott)… I love the change to cool, crisp weather and the blazing fall colors that begins to show up on the Alabama hillsides. Even with the drought some really nice scenes are appearing on the highways, and especially the roads less traveled across our great state. Today’s grey sky with some light rain at times is just about perfect for me. A far cry from those triple digit scorching days back in August.
ON THE MAP: The cold core upper low is over Northwest Alabama this morning. One astute blog reader commented that this is a great setup for snow in the dead of winter, and he is so right. Cold core systems like this can often bring surprise snow storms to Alabama; one in December 1997 comes to mind. Eight inches of snow came down in Demopolis, and we foolishly were forecasting a cold rain. Models don’t get it, and sometimes us humans miss the boat as well. Temperatures are almost always significantly colder than guidance, and that will be the case again today.
Some of the models were suggesting we would be close to 70 today (a few days ago), but we are lucky to reach 55 in most places. The sky will remain generally cloudy, and some light rain or drizzle remains possible through tonight.
TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND: We will start the day with clouds tomorrow, then some gradual clearing is possible tomorrow afternoon as the upper level low moves away. It will be a slow process, however, and many North Alabama communities will remain cloudy all day. There is only a small risk of a stray shower, however, and tomorrow night will be cool and dry for high school football.
The weekend weather still looks wonderful; sunny days and clear chilly nights. Look like highs in the 67 to 70 degree range with lows down in the 40s. Might even see a few upper 30s for the normally colder valleys of Northeast Alabama.
NEXT WEEK: The weather will remain cool and dry Monday through Wednesday. Uncertainty creeps in for the latter half of the week; some runs of the GFS have brought a low northward into Alabama from the Gulf with a good rain on Thursday; but the 00Z GFS has backed away from the idea.
TROPICS: Remember, this is still hurricane season, the southeast Gulf of Mexico looks rather unsettled this weekend; the GFS hints at a low moving northeast into the Atlantic, but that won’t impact Alabama.
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 featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. Great Tampa weather legend Roy Leep is our guest on this week’s show.
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. This is a great way to find the latest weather-related news stories.
STORM ALERT XTREME: We hope to see you on Saturday, November 10 at the BJCC for our annual severe storm training session. Once again this year, the Alabama International Auto Show is a sponsor of Storm Alert XTREME, and it will be held at the BJCC. This is your chance to learn more about Alabama weather, and to be trained as a storm spotter. ABC 33/40 Meteorologist Brian Peters, long time WCM (Warning Coordination Meteorologist) for the National Weather Service in Birmingham, will teach a basic and advanced course on spotting small scale features within thunderstorms that are very important to meteorologists. Read more about Storm Alert XTREME here.
I am headed down to Tuscaloosa this morning; I have a meeting at the University of Alabama; then it is on to Woodland Forrest Elementary School for a weather program. I might be a few minutes late, but the afternoon Weather Xtreme video will be posted close to 3:30. Have a great day!
