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The weather here remains flat and dull, but as we approach the heart of the tropical storm season, we’ve begun to see an increase in the tropical scene. In fact, we have Hurricane Bertha who just seems ready to live forever. More of the tropics in a minute.
Across Central Alabama, the bluer sky we’ve seen for much of the summer has finally been replaced by the milky, hazy look where it’s tough to see the cumulus clouds even with a clear sky. I hate that summer look. And pollution has become a factor, too. The Jefferson County Health Department has posted a Code Red Ozone Alert for today along with a Code Orange Alert for particle pollution. And I suspect with no change to the pattern for Central Alabama those alerts will be continued into Sunday and maybe Monday.
The upper air pattern currently shows a flat ridge across the Southeast, but a strong short wave over Southern Canada will amplify toward mid-week keeping the eastern half of the country under general troughiness. The ridge remains centered over the Southwest US where that area will continue to experience hot weather.
The trough over the eastern half of the country will help to enhance shower chances here by Tuesday as moisture levels increase. The tropical system in the Caribbean will probably move into the western Gulf of Mexico, so we’ll have to be watching how those two will – or perhaps won’t – interact. If the current projections are correct, the Texas and Louisiana coasts could be in for some wet times starting at mid-week.
It’s interesting that by the end of the week and next weekend that the trough over the eastern US pulls off to the northeast but as it does it leaves the moisture in place. That should put Central Alabama back into enough moisture for us to see scattered showers nearly everyday from later this week into the weekend and beyond. The future course of the tropical disturbance, however, could have an impact on that.
The tropics are quite active. Bertha continues to churn across the North Atlantic. I think James may have been right when he said we could be talking about Bertha next Christmas. The ITCZ off the African coast continues to be stormy though nothing seems imminent. Off the South Carolina, Tropical Depression Three formed yesterday and it is showing signs of slowly becoming better organized to where it could become a minimal tropical storm later today. It should track along the Carolina coast before moving off into the Atlantic. And in the Caribbean, a large cluster of storms continues to move west-northwest located just southeast of Jamaica. There was a broad area of low pressure but a depression could form as conditions remain favorable for some strengthening. The computer model plots are fairly uniform in bringing that system into the western Gulf, so it will definitely bear watching.
Thanks for clicking in on the Weather Xtreme video. It will be a quiet day here, and I anticipate having the next one posted by 8 am or so tomorrow. Have a great Saturday, stay cool, and God bless.
-Brian-
