The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below and on iTunes…
It was wonderful to wake up to a beautiful and relatively cool morning along with rather dry humidity. I’ll take all of that I can get since it is June and today at 1:06 pm marks the official start of summer. I know, it’s already been hot, and most people think of June as the start of summer, but officially it really begins today. Look for slightly more than 14 hours of daylight as we enjoy the longest days of the year for the next several days.
Our weather pattern remains benign for the next several days with a surface high over the Southeast along with a strong ridge off to the west. The strong ridge to our west has set up a northwesterly flow pattern aloft, so we have something to watch. Should strong clusters of storms develop well to our northwest, they may persist for hours and could make it all the way into the Southeast and Alabama. These mesoscale convective complexes are tough to forecast more than a day or do out, but the GFS hints at the possibility of one or more of these. It’s just a wise idea when we have a northwesterly flow pattern to keep your eye on developments a few hundred miles upstream, just in case. I’m sure no one would object to having one of these come our way and bring some rain in the wee hours of the morning.
The ridge gradually moves our way and we get back into a scattered afternoon shower regime by Sunday with an isolated shower possible Sunday. That overall pattern stays with us into next week, but there is a development that will bear a little watching. The GFS develops an area of disturbed weather in the western Gulf Sunday and moves it into a weakness in the overall ridge pattern on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This looks like it will bring more rain to Louisiana and Texas, so it’s not likely to help our drought conditions. This kind of feature is exactly what North and Central Alabama could use to help with the water scene. If the high is a little weaker or the weakness in the upper pattern is a little further east, we might benefit from this. This could be wishful thinking, but it is something to keep our eye on.
Long range patterns suggest a trough on the east coast around July 2 but by July 6th the pattern looks really hot, hot, hot.
I hope that you enjoy your Thursday. I’ll do my best to have another video posted from Mt. Cheaha Friday morning by 9 am or a bit earlier. I say 9 am just in case on the wild chance that I might actually sleep past 6 am. Have a great day, and God bless.
-Brian-
