The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.
The big news for Central Alabama for weather is the great warmth and sunshine. In fact, it would appear that we’re in store for about three days of this beautiful spring-ish weather with cool mornings with lows bottoming out in the 40s and highs pushing the 70-degree mark. Not bad for early February when we should be seeing lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s according to 30-year averages. The reason for the good weather is a strong ridge in the upper flow combined with a surface high that will keep weather systems and cold weather away from here.
That begins to change on Tuesday with the ejection of a strong short wave which will probably bring some clouds to us. But the big news is the closed low hanging back over the Southwest US which kicks out big time on Wednesday. In fact, as that system comes out it could bring some serious severe weather possibilities for the Southeast US from Texas to Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday. This is probably the feature that will be holding our attention for the foreseeable future. If you follow this Blog, you know it is much too early to be specific because it is the meso-scale features that will tell the tale. But I know lots of folks will be watching the developments.
That system moves by quickly Wednesday evening clearing the way for a nice day Thursday with a slight cool down. But the fast flow that is being projected won’t give us much time to catch our breath with another system bringing rain chances late Friday and early Saturday, according to this run. And that brings another cool down but nothing expected to be extreme.
Peeking over the horizon into voodoo country, the GFS continues to project a fast flow pattern with a steady stream of disturbances coming out of the Southwest. That means rain chances around the 17th and again on the 20th, but there is little evidence of a big cold outbreak. I did note that the NAO, North Atlantic Oscillation, forecasts continue to show increasingly negative values which could be hinting at a cold start for March. We’ll be watching that.
Don’t forget to listen to our weekly 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.
And you can follow our news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. And, my personal Twitter feed is here if you want to keep up with the adventures and mis-adventures in my life. Twitter is a short messaging service you can receive via the web, cell phone, or IM.
I had a wonderful time at the Alabama Symphony last night. The symphony orchestra combined with over 250 voices to present Carmina Burana and it was superby. Today I’m headed for Clanton where the Alabama Storytelling Association will hold a meeting to create the organization – a bit of an historic occurrence today. I’m uncertain how many people will be attending, but there should be a good crowd as we formulate this new association. The big news, though, is the wonderful spring-like weather, so I hope everyone gets an opportunity to enjoy the sun and warmth today. Godspeed!
-Brian-
