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Those folks in a narrow corridor from Piedmont to Gadsden to Oneonta to Cullman to Haleyville to Hamilton were waking up to a noisy morning as a band of showers and thunderstorms stretched across the northern third of Alabama. Some Skywatchers were reporting moderate to heavy rain and radar showed pockets of heavier rain. The deep trough over the eastern half of the country continued to be felt into the Southeast as short waves embedded in the overall flow continued to rotate through the larger trough. Clouds along with the thunderstorms will make for a challenging temperature forecast. Where the showers persist, generally along and north of the I-20 corridor, temperatures will stay in the 60s while south of the I-20 corridor just a few breaks in the clouds will allow temperatures to climb into the middle 70s.
The main threat for thunderstorms comes this morning and into the early afternoon. Later this afternoon, showers should diminish as the upper trough edges eastward with the upper ridge poised to become the dominant player in our weather pattern for the upcoming week.
I’m a little concerned that this band of higher moisture sticks around into Monday and we could see some isolated showers and perhaps hear some thunder on Monday. The greater risk is further east into Georgia, so for now I’ll hang onto the notion of generally improving weather as the ridge takes hold.
The upper ridge becomes the main story into next week as it builds strongly over the Southeast US. This should keep our weather dry with a good warmup as highs climb well into the 80s. By Thursday and Friday, with the upper high firmly planted over the Southeast US I expect to see afternoon highs hit the 90-degree mark.
By the time we reach Saturday, the upper ridge is being assaulted by a strong trough moving through the Great Lakes area. This pattern suggests the upper ridge will retrograde and allow us to drop back in temperature a little. But we are verging on voodoo country, so a lot can change before we get that far out. This Great Lakes trough could signal a backdoor cold front with the possibility of showers next weekend.
By the end of May, the upper ridge makes a comeback but the GFS interjects an interesting pattern with a closed upper low along the Outer Banks – do I hear Twilight Zone music playing? What might this upper low mean to the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin? This IS voodoo country, so I’ll hold down any wild speculation for now!
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James Spann will be back with the next edition of the Weather Xtreme Video on Monday morning. I’ll have the latest weather updates on the newscasts on ABC 3340 at 5 and 10 pm this evening. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on our fluid weather pattern. Enjoy the day and Godspeed.
-Brian-
