The Sunday edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
It is another chilly start to the day across Central Alabama with temperatures running in the lower and middle 20s. The clouds from the Alberta clipper are gone this morning, so we’re waking to a clear blue sky, but the cold air is still with us as temperatures rise only into the lower 40s for highs today. That changes as we start the work week with temperatures headed back into the above normal area for the first time in quite some time.
Monday will be dry, but Tuesday and Wednesday are looking wet. As the surface high slides off to the east, the western Gulf opens and a weak cold front approaches. A weak disturbance at 500 millibars will develop a weak low on the front late Tuesday that will move eastward. Clouds and rain will depart the area during the day Wednesday. But with a near zonal flow aloft, we won’t see much change in temperature.
Thursday and Friday appear dry with temperatures very nice – that’s highs in the 60s maybe even threatening the lower 70s – and lows in the vicinity of 50. Certainly looks like a much moderated scenario than what we’ve been experiencing lately.
But as we enjoy some springlike weather, a deep trough develops across the western US and moves our way on Saturday and Sunday. The upper trough generates a surface low over Wyoming that drops to the Texas/Oklahoma Panhandles on Saturday. The low ejects northeast into Iowa on Sunday dragging a cold front into the Lower Mississippi River Valley. This suggests the possibility of severe weather across the Southeast US next weekend. We’ll be watching this one closely.
After that system passes, the GFS forecasts another round of cold temperatures, but this one looks fairly short lived. By the end of the cycle on March 5, the pattern shows less amplitude with the strong westerlies well to our north. But that is voodoo land, so we’ll see, but still the GFS is suggesting no extreme cold weather for us for the next couple of weeks.
Don’t forget Storm Alert coming to Jacksonville this coming Thursday and then to Bessemer the following Tuesday. We hope you can come out to one of the final two stops in the 2007 tour. And this upcoming week is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. Please take some time this week to discuss severe weather safety with your family. A few minutes of advance planning could save your life when severe weather threatens. And if you don’t have a NOAA Weather Radio, please consider getting one. ABC 3340 has a special weather radio promotion coming up that will make a great opportunity for anyone who does not have one already.
I hope you have a great week. Be sure to watch the sky to catch some of Nature’s beauty. The sky is a wonderful canvas that changes constantly bringing new sights every day. God bless.
-Brian-
PS Don’t forget the special Helena Severe Weather Safety Seminar sponsored by the Helena CERT group. It will be this coming Tuesday at 7 pm at the Helena City Hall. I’m really looking forward to promoting severe weather awareness and safety there.
