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RIGHT NOW: Alabama is bathed in sunshine this afternoon, and temperatures and humidity levels are not bad for a summer day here in the Deep South. At 2:00… Birmingham was at 87 degrees, with a dewpoint of 61, making the relative humidity 41 percent. There is no rain on radar, and the sky will stay clear tonight. Those early morning illegal showers that popped up over Northeast Alabama are long gone.
REST OF THE WEEK: Moisture levels will slowly rise, and a surface boundary will approach from the north tomorrow. SPC has much of Tennessee in a slight risk of severe storms ahead of the front, and a few scattered storms could show up tomorrow afternoon, especially over the northern third of the state. We will keep an eye on those strong storms to the north to see if any of them want to drift down into North Alabama.
Thursday could be the day with the best chance of showers and storms, but even then they will be scattered. The front will stall out near the Tennessee border, and dissipate, but there still be some low level convergence Thursday to enhance the development of afternoon showers or storms during the peak of the daytime heating process.
On Friday, showers and storms will thin out as an upper air high begins to build. The GFS is printing a high of 95 Friday, but it has been running several degrees too warm in recent days, so low 90s are more likely.
THE WEEKEND: A 5940 meter 500 mb high will be right over Alabama Saturday, meaning a hot and mostly dry day. Any showers or storms should be very isolated, and temperatures will reach the low 90s again, with potential for mid 90s over West Alabama. The good soil moisture will help keep temperatures down; if this were in August with dry top soil, we could be looking at triple digit heat. A few showers or storms could show up Sunday afternoon as the upper high weakens a bit, but they should be widely scattered.
NEXT WEEK: No real reason for us to deviate from the standard summer forecast for much of next week, with partly sunny days and the risk of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm in a few spots. Looks like highs next week will be close to the 90 degree mark.
THE ALABAMA BEACHES: Weatherwise the weather should be okay. Afternoon temperatures will top out around 92 each afternoon through Saturday. However, if you are right along the edge of the water it may be a couple of degrees cooler. Lows at night will be in the mid 70s. There is only a small risk of an afternoon thunderstorm each day through Saturday.
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