An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
Ah, the hot, muggy days of summer are here. Yep, in terms of astronomy the season doesn’t begin until 1:06 pm CDT June 21, but us weather folks consider summer June 1 through August 31. The time of the year when the primary storm track moves well to the north of here, and the Deep South is covered by moist, tropical air. The afternoon heat is usually good for helping to generate a few showers and storms in widely scattered, rather random locations.
That is our story through the weekend ahead; and with an upper ridge building in afternoons will be getting hotter. Low 90s are likely by the end of the week, with mid 90s possible over the western third of the state. In fact, we might even see low 90s around here today. I have great fear the model MOS numbers will be too low this summer due to the very dry soil conditions.
A very deep storm coming out of the northern Rockies will generate a very robust severe weather threat way up north tomorrow and Thursday, but that trailing front will probably fizzle before reaching North Alabama due to the upper ridge. Our only hope for rain for the next seven days (and beyond) will be from one of those temporary, but pleasant afternoon and evening showers and storms. We had a few over North Alabama last night; our SKYCAM site at Cullman measured 0.07″.
TROPICS: The Atlantic basin is quiet, but a wicked cyclone named Gonu is in the Indian Ocean, headed in the direction of Iran. See WeatherParty.com for more stories on that big system, or watch the Weather Xtreme video.
WEATHER BRAINS: We recorded a new WeatherBrains podcast last night; that is now available on the web and on iTunes; David Black will be posting the show notes shortly.
I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted by 3:30 this afternoon!
