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Who left the back door open? Some quick observations from the ABC 33/40 SKYCAM network at 5:30 this morning include 17 at Mt. Cheaha, 20 at Cullman, Gadsden, and Hamilton, and 24 in downtown Birmingham. My thermometer in North Shelby County is showing 22.
The real story are the wind chill values, which are generally between 5 and 15 degrees right now. Those wind chill readings will remain below freezing all day across the northern half of the state.
In terms of the actual air temperature, we are forecasting a high today of only 35 degrees for Birmingham, and that might be optimistic. The last time it was this cold during the day was on January 23, 2005, when the high was 34.
BOTTOM DROPS OUT TONIGHT: The wind should calm down late tonight, allowing for major freeze. If we reach our forecast low of 16 degrees tomorrow morning, that will be the coldest temperature in Birmingham since February 7, 2004 when our low was 15. But, we continue to stress that this is not a “one number” place. The actual range tomorrow morning will be from near 8 for the coldest valleys to 25 on the ridge tops.
ANOTHER HARD FREEZE FRIDAY MORNING: We also need to remind you the weather here will be very cold early Friday, with a low around 20 degrees, with teens for the valleys across North Alabama.
You know the deal… watch for the three Ps… take care of the pets, pipes, and plants.
WEEKEND PREVIEW: We enjoy a nice warm-up over the weekend, with a high in the mid 50s on Saturday, and low 60s on Sunday. We don’t expect any rain although some scattered clouds will show up, and winds will turn in to the south.
NEXT WEEK: The 06Z run of the GFS brings a major upper trough, which will be out west over the weekend, into the eastern half of the nation by the middle of next week, and shows a nice round of showers and thunderstorms for Alabama Tuesday night. Run to run consistency has not been good, however, but we do believe that will be our next decent chance of rain. We just don’t know much rain at this point.
WILD WEST: That western trough will bring some big time mountain snow and valley rain to the western quarter of the U.S… some spots up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains could see 10 FEET of snow!
LONG RANGE: Cold air will continue to cover much of the U.S. through mid-January, and when an upper trough sets up over the eastern U.S., we will get a cold shot or two here in Alabama. Temperatures over the nation, in general, look to remain below normal through much of the month.
WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page. This is a great way to find the latest weather-related news stories. Lots of stories over there about very cold weather that is in place across much of the northern hemisphere.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We recorded a new show Monday night, and you can scroll down to see the show notes here on the blog.
We are back on the regular schedule today… so look for another Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon!
