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An Arctic front will blow into Alabama during the pre-dawn hours tomorrow, and will bring a cold and blustery day to the state. In advance of the front, we will continue to mention the chance of a little light rain tonight and early tomorrow morning. The primary window for light rain will come from about 9:00 tonight through 6:00 tomorrow, and much of it will be south of Birmingham. Wintry precipitation is not expected since the cold air will lag the behind the light rain by several hours.
COLD THURSDAY: We expect to hold in the 30s all day tomorrow, despite a clearing sky. A brisk north wind will keep wind chill values below freezing at times.
A hard freeze is likely by daybreak Friday; we figure lows will be somewhere generally between 15 and 25. Friday will stay dry with a nice warm-up; we should reach the 47 to 51 degree range by Friday afternoon.
THE WEEKEND: Model madness is an issue; the 12Z GFS now keeps the rain on Saturday down over South Alabama, with no precipitation over the northern half of the state. For now, considering the active “pineapple express” southern stream we see on water vapor images, we will keep the chance of “periods of rain” going for Saturday. If the 00Z runs confirm this, we will begin to back down on the rain event on Saturday for North Alabama.
We will now take out the chance of rain for Sunday and Monday as an upper ridge parks over the Deep South. And, we will be warmer with highs in the 60s on both of those days. A cold front will blow in here on Tuesday of next week with a good chance of showers and possibly a thunderstorm.
VOODOO LAND: Another nice rain producer shows up at the end of next week, in the January 31-February 1 time frame. We are getting into model madness beyond this, and you can pretty much forget any specific solution with this active pattern, featuring waves in the northern branch and the associated cold air, and the southern branch cranking out the waves as well.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute 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.
STORM ALERT 2008: Our annual severe weather awareness tour across Alabama begins next week! Our first stop will at Oak Grove High School on Thursday January 31; from there will have shows in Anniston, Northport, Lineville, and Moody. See the details on this year’s show, and the schedule here. We hope to see you along the way!
I had a great time today seeing the young children up in Haleyville at the Head Start program, be looking for them today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News on the KIDCAM!
