The Friday afternoon edition of the Weather Xtreme video is available on the player below, and on iTunes:
Be sure and scroll down and read all of the reports from J.B. and our blog family concerning the cold this morning. Pretty amazing for early December in Alabama… Birmingham’s official low was 17, missing the record by one degree.
TONIGHT: Model guidance is trending slightly warmer for tonight; both the GFS and the WRF/NAM are printing a low near 20 degrees by daybreak tomorrow. That really doesn’t matter too much since lows will be all over the board; the coldest valleys will drop into the 12 to 17 degree range; while the ridgetops will be in the 24 to 28 degree range. The good news is that tonight will be the last really cold night for a while.
We should reach the low to mid 50s tomorrow, and upper 50s on Sunday with a good deal of sunshine over the weekend.
NEXT WEEK: I still think we have two rounds of rain next week; one Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, and another at the end of the week on Friday (one week from today). The 12Z GFS has really backed off on rain at the end of the week, but I don’t quite think that is the correct solution. One thing for sure; next week won’t be as cold as this week as the upper air winds will keep the Arctic air well to the north of here.
LONG RANGE: No real consistency in model output in the December 20-24 time frame, but gut feeling here says the weather here across the Deep South won’t be all that cold with a positive NAO. But, you know the deal. That is all voodoo at this point.
Sure enjoyed seeing the kids this morning at Collins-Riverside Middle School in Northport; they will be on the KIDCAM Monday of next week at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News. I am writing this from the WCFT studio in Tuscaloosa, the old Channel 33 facility where I started the TV business in 1978. From here I will be going down to Linden for their Christmas parade tonight. John Oldshue will be covering for me on TV tonight; I will be back on the regular schedule Monday. Brian Peters will have the Weather Xtreme videos over the weekend.
I will be taking the roads less traveled on the way to Linden this afternoon; going through wonderful places like Maplesville, Selma, Safford, Consul, and Thomaston. I will take some pictures and share them over the weekend!
