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This is not exactly going to be a “Chamber of Commerce” day. Temperatures about 25 degrees below normal, an icy north wind, clouds, and some scattered light rain or sprinkles. Many communities from Birmingham north will fail to reach 50 today, and we are looking at some risk of a light freeze tonight.
The good news is that the actual surface high is still expected to be near the Mississippi Delta early tomorrow, and some wind will continue across Alabama, especially the eastern half of the state. This will lessen the chance of a really damaging freeze, and should also help reduce the frost potential. But, growers will need to keep a close eye on temperatures tonight as we will be very close to freezing early tomorrow. Looks like the range will be from 29 to 35, with the coldest readings over the northwest counties of Alabama, closest to that surface high.
We begin to warm up tomorrow afternoon, with a high in the low 60s. But, we need to mention that Wednesday morning will be cold as well; a light freeze is not totally out of the question for some of the colder locations over East Alabama. Some frost is possible as well by daybreak Wednesday, generally east of I-65.
We rise into the 70s on Thursday as the warming trend continues.
FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Another short wave will impact Alabama late Friday or Friday night with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. The first look at this system shows it does not have as much potential for severe weather as the ones that have impacted Alabama on the last two Fridays, but we will fine tune that outlook as we go along this week. For now it looks like the best chance of rain will come Friday night, ending early Saturday morning.
For now, it looks like much of the weekend will be dry with highs in the 70s, although the upper low responsible for rain Friday night hangs around just northeast of Alabama.
THE LAND OF VOODOO: The next big western U.S. upper trough seems to be deflected north of Alabama in the April 22-24 time frame, with only a weakening cold front moving in our direction. A better rain and storm setup shows up around April 29, but that is really into voodoo country.
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.
I will be speaking at South Shades Crest Elementary today… then I head back into the office and the afternoon Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 3:30. Enjoy the day!
