The Tuesday afternoon edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available on the player below, or over on iTunes:
Nice to see temperatures rising up into the low 50s after the very cold start this morning. Scroll down for J.B.’s full list of morning lows; the official low for Birmingham was 24, missing the record low for the date by just three degrees (21 in 1907). The coldest spot I would find statewide was 13 degrees; that was taken by the National Weather Service cooperative observer in Hamilton. The low at our SKYCAM site there was 16 degrees warmer at 29; that site is on a ridge (the thermometer actually sits atop an old fire tower, high over the surrounding countryside). Just another example of how sharp the inversion can be in Alabama on a clear, cold night.
Another good example of the inversion was over East Alabama; Anniston dropped to 19 degrees, while Mt. Cheaha at an elevation of 2,407 feet had a low of 38.
Our brief warming trend continues tomorrow, with highs between 59 and 64. That will sure feel good after these cold nights of late.
MORE COLD AIR: Cold air advection kicks in again on Thursday with an icy wind; we will struggle to reach the low to mid 40s during the day, and by Friday morning we will be dealing with another hard freeze. Looks like another case where most places will wind up somewhere between 15 and 25 degrees early Friday morning, with the teens for the colder valleys and the mid 20s for the ridgetops.
THE WEEKEND: Temperatures will moderate over the weekend, with afternoon readings peaking around 60 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. While some high clouds will be around both days, we will enjoy a decent amount of sunshine.
NEXT WEEK: Looks like temperatures next week will be very close to normal levels for this time of the year; upper 50s during the day with 30s during the early morning hours. The 12Z run of the GFS continues to hold off the next rain here until the end of the week; looks like a good rain event is shaping up for December 15-16 (the lead short wave in the December 12-13 time frame dampens out and lifts north, generally west of here).
VOODOO LAND: The latest GFS shows a polar vortex setting up over the Great Lakes around December 20-21 with a fast disturbed flow underneath. An interesting idea but one we have not seen before. We will keep an eye on it.
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Our SKYCAM at Cheaha State Park is back up and running… thanks to the guys at StratusStation for the help as always. You can see all of the images and weather data anytime here. Have a great Tuesday evening… I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!
