An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below and on iTunes.
Computer models are just wonderful. Today’s latest run presents a very different picture than what I discussed yesterday at this time. The atmosphere is a big thing and that’s part of what makes weather and weather forecasting so interesting.
The one thing that does not seem to be changing is the warmth. The Birmingham Airport reached 73 for a high yesterday, and it would appear that today’s record high of 74 set in 1946 could be in jeopardy. For more information on the records, see the post I made yesterday below. The big question as to whether we will tie the record or break it will come with any breaks we get in the clouds. No breaks in the cloud cover and we probably won’t, but if we can get a bit of the old sun to shine and we could establish a new record. But warm and humid conditions seem the rule for today. And an isolated shower or two may occur, there’s just not organized reason to see any showers.
The warmth and humidity appear to stay with us well into much of the upcoming week along with a small chance for an isolated shower. The colder air that I thought would arrive by Thursday appears not likely to get here until maybe Saturday now. And then it does not appear as cold as the model run was yesterday with a much weaker trough over the eastern half of the country.
During the upcoming week, the closed low/trough over the Southwest US will kick out across the US. The ridge over the Southeast will remain strong, however, so the trough will weaken as it kicks out. Much of the energy with the trough will remain well north of Alabama so we stay in a warmer than typical pattern. As the trough moves by to our north on Friday and Saturday, the upper flow becomes parallel to the front so there won’t be a good push to get the front through here. The result will be a boundary lying across the region which could keep our weather somewhat unsettled. This would be a good thing since we still need rain, however, it is not likely to bring a significant rain event but just showers.
Further into voodoo country, the pattern remains fairly progressive with a series of upper level disturbances moving by us. The GFS has an interesting look at the end of the cycle with a substantial ridge over the north central US that is undercut by a split flow pattern. But I have no faith in that solution since it is so far out there. But the overall long range outlook seems to remain warm with no significant rain events in sight.
Thanks to the folks in Altoona for inviting ABC 3340 to their Christmas parade. The Storm Chaser was near the front of the parade, so I didn’t get to see all the parade participants, but it looked like a pretty big parade. James Spann will be back tomorrow morning with the next Weather Xtreme Video for you. Have a great Sunday and God bless.
-Brian-
