The Tuesday afternoon edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
After a long period of rather benign weather, the pattern is getting active as we head toward Christmas. This will mean frequent rainy periods for Alabama and the Deep South, and increasing snow cover for the nation’s heartland and parts of the Rockies.
RIGHT NOW: Cooler air has slipped into the northwest corner of the state; Muscle Shoals is at 57 degrees at 2:00 p.m. with clouds, but we are close to 70 down here with a partly sunny sky. We will enjoy one more dry day tomorrow before rain returns.
AL: The lead storm coming out of the Southwest U.S. (I have named this one AL in a moment of morning silliness) will bring lots of snow to the region from New Mexico to South Dakota tonight and tomorrow. Here in the warm sector, we will deal with lots of rain beginning Thursday, lasting into Thursday night and Friday. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are likely; this will be our first major rain event since November 15. There could be some thunder, but severe weather isn’t expected with a stable airmass in place. You might hear little thunder at times, however.
SATURDAY: Looks like we will get in a one day break in the rain on Saturday. I am not sure we will see all that much sunshine, but most of the day should be dry with a high in the 55 to 59 degree range. Maybe a little lingering rain early in the day, mainly south of Birmingham.
BOB: The next Southwest U.S. system (I have named this one Bob) will spin up a very robust surface low near Mobile Sunday afternoon, and will bring the next round of rain to the state Sunday and Sunday night (Christmas Eve). Looks like another good soaker with one to two inches of rain likely. The rain might even become heavy at times with this system, and some flash flooding issues are not totally out of the question. And, back in the colder air some snow is likely in the broad area from Dallas to Indianapolis. The 12Z run has backed off on the snow threat a bit for this area, but I expect to show up again in future runs.
CHRISTMAS DAY: The rain should move out of the state early Monday morning, with colder air moving in. The new GFS MOS shows a high of 46 for Birmingham on Christmas Day with some slow clearing possible. There will be some wrap-around moisture to the north, and I guess a few flurries are possible over the far northern part of Alabama and the state of Tennessee. No big deal, however.
CINDY, DAN, ETC: There will be more storms coming our of the Four Corners Storm Machine in the weeks following Christmas if the pattern holds up, and we think it will. Trying to tell you exactly when the rain will come, how much colder air will follow each rain event, etc. is very difficult to do at this point. Just understand the pattern favors a good rain here about every three days followed by a shot of cold air. The air should get progressively colder as we get into January. Snow and ice fans have to like the pattern, you have to figure we might have one or more threats of snow or ice here after the New Year. Will be fun to watch it all unfold.
MAX MAYFIELD ON WEATHER BRAINS THIS WEEK: Thanks to outgoing National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield for taking the time to join us as our guest on WeatherBrains this week… that is our weekly 30 minute netcast all about weather. You can listen on the web, or on iTunes. David Black is the host and he does a great job with the show.
I will crank out two Weather Xtreme videos tomorrow, but we go to the holiday schedule on Thursday with just one video per day through Monday January 1. Of course, the blog will be updated often as usual. The work never stops completely in the weather office, you know! Also, J.B. Elliott remains on vacation this week, he returns on Christmas Day (I will be off next week). Thanks as always for reading and watching… I will have the next video posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow….
