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MOIST AIR IN PLACE: Alabama’s weather today will remain warm and humid, and we will deal with scattered showers and thunderstorms again. The radar is fairly quiet early this morning, but we note active thunderstorms over Mississippi, and these will lay down small scale boundaries that will serve as a focus for shower and storm formation later today. Like yesterday, some of the storms could be strong to severe with potential for hail and wet microbursts (small areas of damaging straight line winds). And, like yesterday, the storms will tend to be rather random in terms of their location. The chance of any one spot getting wet today is in the 40 percent category. Otherwise, the day will feature a mix of sun and clouds with a high in the mid 80s.
TOMORROW AND WEDNESDAY: Coverage of showers and storms will increase even more on these two days as a cold front slowly approaches, and dynamic lift increases from an upper trough that will form over the eastern U.S. Once again the stronger storms could produce hail and gusty winds, along with heavy rain and lots of lightning. Temperatures will trend downward with a high in the low 80s tomorrow, and upper 70s on Wednesday.
THURSDAY/FRIDAY: These two days look delightful as dry air takes over and the upper trough forms over the eastern third of the nation. Sunny pleasant days, clear cool nights, and low humidity. The GFS is printing a high of 79 Thursday, and 82 Friday… morning lows will be in the 50s. Some of the colder spots should reach the 40s early Thursday and Friday morning. We won’t have too many more of these before the long, hot summer gets here.
WEEKEND PEEK: A disturbance that will hang back over Texas at mid-week will approach, so moisture levels will rise on Saturday and Sunday, and we will need to mention some risk of widely scattered showers and storms both days. For now, moisture levels look pretty limited, and it looks like the showers will be widely spaced, so no “wash-out” on either day. Just a few passing showers or storms. The high will be at or over 80 degrees, which is pretty close to average for mid-May in Alabama.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: Looks like some pretty routine May weather… no sign of any serious severe weather or tornado threat through mid-month. See the Weather Xtreme video for details and all of the graphics that go with this discussion.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 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. Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is a senior forecaster at the NWS Forecast Office in Paducah KY, Chris Noles. We will discuss the severe weather warning process… Chris has some interesting research.
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Another busy day… I have weather programs today at Sunshine High School in Hale County… and at Pleasant Grove Elementary in Jefferson County. Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 or so this afternoon… enjoy the day!
