An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
In the words of Gene Autry…
“I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again
Ridin’ the range once more
Totin’ my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again…”
Thanks to Brian Peters, J.B. Elliott, Bill Murray, and Ashley Brand for covering my duties last week. That was my first full week off since Christmas… we all need a little “down time” every now and then. This is a wonderful job, but with very harsh hours. If nothing else, a little extra sleep sure helps. You can see some images captured on the Washington trip here, here, and here.
RIGHT NOW: How about that cluster of showers in Etowah and Calhoun counties at 5:30 a.m.! Those will vanish soon, but nice to see something on the radar at this early hour. If nothing else, that is a sign that we have a fighting chance of more scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon, during the peak of the daytime heat.
Really, I don’t see much reason for any major day to day weather change through Thursday of this week. Very typical summer weather, with hot hazy days and the risk of a shower or storm each afternoon in scattered spots. Most of the storms will come from 1:00 until 9:00 p.m., and if you like the numbers game the chance of your neighborhood getting wet is about one in five. We do note a weak 500 mb low showing up this morning over Southwest Alabama (watch the video)… hopefully that will enhance the development of showers and storms today.
LATE THIS WEEK: The GFS continues to develop a long wave upper trough over the eastern U.S. by Friday, which drives a surface cold front down this way. If this is correct, we will see a good increase in the number of showers and thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday, which will be very welcome across the parched fruited plain of Alabama. As always in summer, rainfall distribution will not be even, but it sure looks like some spots could easily see over one inch of rain on those two days.
The GFS actually drive the front into deep South Alabama by Sunday afternoon, with drier air moving into the northern part of Alabama. Fronts rarely make it south of Birmingham in late June and July, so I will believe this when I see it. But, the model hints at dry weather for Sunday and Monday.
LONG RANGE: The GFS hints that the most intense heat during the first week of July will be out west, in places like Denver and Salt Lake City. A mean upper trough continues to show up over the eastern U.S., which would suggest normal temperatures and rain for Alabama if that idea is correct.
TROPICS: Still no sign of any tropical action this week… see the video for a look at the SST anomalies in the Pacific. Sure looks like we have flipped into a La Nina cycle. I think most of our really active Gulf of Mexico hurricane seasons have come with neutral ENSO conditions…
WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page. Plenty of interesting stories over there this morning.
We will be back on the regular “two a day” schedule for the Weather Xtreme video this week… so the next one will be posted by 3:30 this afternoon!
