Skies are clear across Alabama on this Sunday morning. Readings started off in the middle 30s to the lower 40s in most locations. The state’s cold spot was Meridianville, with 34F. DeSoto State Park was not far behind at 35F. Several locations hit 36. Officially, Birmingham dropped to 41F.
Highs will warm quickly into the lower 70s again at most locations under abundant sunshine. It will be back into the upper 30s to near 40 tonight under mostly clear skies. Monday will be another nice day, but the party will be slowly winding down. A few clouds will appear during the day. As high pressure nudges far enough to the east, moisture levels will start to increase and skies will become mostly cloudy overnight.
CHANGES AHEAD: A few showers will break out across the area Tuesday in the moist southerly flow. Highs will still edge up to around 70 degrees. The showers will continue through the overnight hours and increase even more on Wednesday. By Wednesday morning, a sharp cold front will be pushing towards Alabama. Behind it, much colder air will spill into the center of the country.
Rain and thunderstorms will become widespread on Thursday ahead of the front. Heavy rainfall is possible, and though there will be storms, they should not be strong. By Thursday afternoon, much colder air will be overspreading western Tennessee and northern Mississippi.
This colder air will edge into Northwest Alabama Thursday evening. As it pushes southeastward, there may be enough moisture left for a changeover to freezing rain or maybe even snow.
As is always the case, timing is critical. The precipitation will end Friday morning, but not perhaps before some areas see a little snowfall. In any case, Friday promises to be a miserable day with temperatures holding in the 30s, a strong north wind and that chance of wintry precip.
Look out for some very cold readings Friday night, when temperatures may fall into the teens across parts of North Alabama.
But the cold will be short lived, and temperatures will moderate quickly over the weekend.
