An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
How about the great Alabama weather legend, J.B. Elliott, posting on the blog through 3:30 this morning… J.B. sure was burning the midnight oil.
Don’t break out the jackets and sweaters, but instead of upper 90s today we expect the high to be in the low 90s as slightly cooler air slips into Alabama from the east. This will be a day with the hottest temperatures over the western side of the state, and the lower values near the Georgia border. I figure Tuscaloosa will peak around 95 today, with Heflin and Wedowee topping out closer to 87. Birmingham should be close to 90.
As you recall, we did mention the possibility of an overnight shower or storm for last night, and we did have a few storms rumbling over the eastern part of the state. We even see a few light showers over Northwest Alabama as I write this around daybreak. Unfortunately, the chance of widespread rain will remain small through the weekend, but we will have a little better chance of scattered showers and storms today over East Alabama, from roughly Roanoke south to Dothan, where SPC has a slight risk of severe weather forecast today. Storms in this region will develop in response to a disturbance rotating down the back side of the trough over the Atlantic coast of the U.S. Showers and storms over the rest of the state today should be few and far between.
The other potential issue this week is the development of an MCS (mesoscale convective system) somewhere over Missouri and Illinois; the upper air winds would carry it into North Alabama based on the current configuration. These things are almost impossible to forecast until they actually develop, so we will be watching for them in coming days. A northerly flow aloft in summer can often bring a surprise batch of storms from the north.
But, we really don’t expect much change for the rest of the week and the weekend with partly to mostly sunny, hot days and only isolated showers and storms for most of the state.
WEEKEND PEEK: At this point the weekend looks relatively dry, with only isolated showers and thunderstorms. Afternoon temperatures should peak in the 92 to 96 degree range.
NEXT WEEK: The GFS remains bullish on the development of a nice upper trough from Hudson Bay in Canada all the way to the Deep South portion of the U.S. toward the middle of next week. The associated surface front would bring a good chance of showers and storms in the June 19-20 time frame if the model is correct. Still a little out there in voodoo country, but the consistency has been very good.
TROPICS: Nothing especially organized out in the tropics this morning, and tropical storm formation is not expected through the rest of this week.
WEATHER BRAINS: We recorded a new WeatherBrains netcast last night; it is now available on the web and on iTunes. David Black will post the show notes here shortly.
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.
I have a busy day today; I will be dropping by Summer Quest at Hunter Street Baptist Church, and then I am on the road to Walker County for weather programs at the Bevill State campus in Jasper, and then at their campus in Sumiton. They have a great summer program for kids and I always enjoy the visit. I will be back in the office by early afternoon and the next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 3:30…
