The Monday morning edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
COLDEST SO FAR THIS SEASON: Check out these observations around our SKYCAM network as of 5:00 this morning:
Hamilton 20
Cullman 23
Birmingham 25
Jasper 26
Inverness 26
Tuscaloosa 28
Up at Hamilton, with a northerly wind of 10 mph, the wind chill index is 9 degrees. Welcome to December.
Even with bright sunshine today, cold air advection continues and I doubt if we get out of the mid 40s. This air is coming off the snowpack over mid-America, and won’t have much time to modify.
By daybreak tomorrow, temperatures in the valleys should be even colder than what we have this morning. No doubt those cold spots will wind up in the teens; looks like the actual range tomorrow morning will be from 15 to 25 degrees. We will use 23 in the forecast as an average low for most neighborhoods, but you know the usual suspects where teens will be likely. Valley Head, Pinson, etc.
The record low for Birmingham for tomorrow (December 5) is 21 set in 1907; we will be making a run at that.
REST OF THE WEEK: After a slow moderation tomorrow and Wednesday, more cold air rolls in here Thursday and Friday. An upper trough will spin up a storm in the western Gulf of Mexico, but this one will be shunted too far to the south to really bother us in Alabama. We have a chance of reaching 60 on Wednesday, but highs drop back in the chilly 40s on Thursday and Friday with a chilly north wind. And, lows will be well down in the 20s again by Friday and Saturday morning.
NEXT RAIN? The GFS suggests our next rain event will be around December 13. In fact, the 06Z run shows warmer air and a negative tilt trough, which makes you think there might be a risk of strong storms.
LONG RANGE: After this week, the NAO is expected to be neutral to positive, which sure gives us the impression that this week will be the coldest week of the month. Looks like milder air will cover Alabama and the Deep South next week, and just maybe for a large percentage of the rest of December. Doesn’t bode well for the dreamers wishing for a White Christmas.
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CHRISTMAS PARADE TIME: I will be on the Christmas Parade circuit this week; of course there are dozens and dozens across our large territory, but I have been assigned the Gadsden parade tonight, the Tuscaloosa parade tomorrow night, and the parade down in Linden Friday night. You bet I will have the heater in the Storm Chaser van really cranked up on all three nights.
Today I will be in Jasper for a midday speech at First United Methodist Church, and then I will be driving over to Gadsden for the parade and live weather at 5:00 and 6:00. I should be able to crank out the afternoon Weather Xtreme video by 3:30 thanks to the wonder of wireless Internet access… look for J.B. to post a list of morning lows here on the blog a little later this morning….
