The Thursday afternoon edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available on the player below, and also on iTunes:
Be sure and scroll down for J.B.’s latest update on the Arctic blast and winter storm over mid-America. Big time snow event is unfolding from Wichita Falls to Oklahoma City to St. Louis and on to Chicago during the next 12 hours. Some of our pals in that zone will receive 6 to 12 inches of snow. Yikes.
HANG ON TO YOUR HAT: As the surface low deepens rapidly this evening, winds will increase even more across Alabama tonight. Even with no thunderstorms involved, winds of 20 to 40 mph are likely, with gusts on the ridgetops to around 50 mph. This in itself might bring some trees. And, of course, a line of strong to severe storms will be moving through the state with potential for damaging wind. We still expect the main severe weather threat from about 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.
We note surface based CAPE values are higher than forecast this afernoon; they are already greater than 1,000 j/kg over far Southwest Alabama and South Mississippi. This gives us a little more concern over the possibility of severe storms tonight. And, dynamics are very impressive with lots of low level helicity, which means a few rotating storms are not out of the question. What is really missing is the cold air aloft and the associated steep lapse rates… the coldest air up top gets in here after the storms are over in Georgia.
But, with such a dynamic, negative tilt short wave there will be excellent forcing and we need to be on our toes tonight. Be sure you are in a good place to receive severe weather warnings if needed. Already to the west there is a severe thunderstorm watch up for North Mississippi, the southwest part of Tennessee, and East Arkansas.
THE BIG CHILL: The northwest part of Alabama will probably hover in the low to mid 30s all day tomorrow. For Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, we should be close to 40 degrees at daybreak; we will probably drop into the mid to upper 30s by mid to late morning, and then recover to the low 40s by afternoon as sunshine returns. Strong west to northwest winds will keep wind chill values below freezing most of the dat tomorrow making for a really raw day. Especially compared to the recent mild spell. A few flurries might be found up in the northeast corner of the state across higher terrain, but for now the chance of flurries looks too small to mention down this way.
We drop well down into the 20s by early Saturday morning. The weekend will be cool and dry, and a fresh shot of cold air arrives late Sunday into Sunday night and Monday. Once again, we will be well down in the 20s Monday and Tuesday morning.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: The GFS is a little more bullish on a short wave around Thursday of next week (one week from today); it is now showing some light rain over Alabama, and some light snow to the north over Tennessee and Kentucky. Another good looking wave should bring rain and storms around December 12-13.
WEATHER PARTY: Keep up with the latest news on the big winter storm over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register and you can become involved in submitting stories and voting on them.
I had a great time today speaking to the first graders at Brighton Elementary; be sure and look for them on the KIDCAM on ABC 33/40 News today at 5:00. We will keep the blog updated with fresh information through the entire event tonight; don’t forget you can see our Pinpoint Doppler Radar on our live stream; that is accessed from the main abc3340.com weather page (click on the live stream button on the upper right). And, of course, if we go into wall to wall severe weather coverage that will be on the live stream in place of the radar….
