The Friday morning edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
A quick peek at temperatures around Alabama as I write this at 5:00 a.m.:
Mt. Cheaha (SKYCAM) 15
Hamilton (SKYCAM) 17
Huntsville 18
Fort Payne 18
Cullman (SKYCAM) 19
Gadsden (SKYCAM) 19
Inverness (SKYCAM) 21
Birmingham Airport 21
Birmingham (SKYCAM) 21
Tuscaloosa 23
An important point is that the wind is not calm, and at the Birmingham Airport the current wind chill index is 11 degrees. That is what you will face as you head out this morning, so dress warmly.
TODAY: We actually have a Clipper passing through the Deep South this morning, producing some clouds over the northern third of the state, but the air is so dry in the lower levels it is unlikely that any snow flakes will make it to the ground. Today will be another cold and dry day with ample sunshine; most spots will not reach the 40 degree mark again.
THE WEEKEND: We continue to watch the Alberta Clipper to the northwest; we actually have blizzard warnings with that feature over parts of the Dakotas and Montana. It will bring some moisture with it, needless to say, if that is the case. That strong disturbance rotates through here late tomorrow and tomorrow night, and has the potential for some light snow or snow flurries. The American models continue to trend drier, but the Canadian still shows the potential for a decent dusting of snow over the northern third of the state. The best chance of snow flakes will come from about 4:00 p.m. through 5:00 a.m. Sunday. NWS Nashville is mentioning 1 to 2 inches of snow for their CWA, mainly north of I-40. The sky will then become mostly sunny on Sunday as the wave moves on to the east quickly.
NEXT WEEK: The upper air pattern finally relaxes a bit, and the flow goes more zonal. This means warmer weather for much of th nation, thankfully. A short wave will bring a chance of rain and storms to the state at mid-week… showers could form late Tuesday or Tuesday night, but it looks like the main activity will be on Wednesday. The 06Z GFS continues to trend south with that feature, and keeps the surface low south of here, which would mean minimal severe weather chances. But, model output has been all over the board with that feature and we will fine the forecast in coming days.
LONG RANGE: The GFS shows a number of short waves which have the potential to bring strong to severe thunderstorms to the Deep South in late February and the first part of March… welcome to tornado season. Never a dull moment around here this time of the year.
LOOKING BACK: Check out the high/low/rain data for Birmingham so far this month:
DATE High Low Precipitation
Feb 01 45 34 0.97
Feb 02 42 26 0.02
Feb 03 44 21 0.00
Feb 04 50 26 0.00
Feb 05 45 25 0.00
Feb 06 58 26 0.00
Feb 07 65 39 0.00
Feb 08 47 36 T
Feb 09 40 26 0.04
Feb 10 45 23 0.00
Feb 11 57 25 0.00
Feb 12 68 35 0.00
Feb 13 64 39 0.55
Feb 14 39 26 T
Feb 15 38 24 0.00
This is a great example why I have never understood the concept of forecasting highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s beyond the second day of a public weather forecast this time of the year (50s and 30s are average values for January and February). Our weather is rarely “normal”, and if you look at the weather data for the first 14 days of February, there is not one single day when the high was in the 50s and low was in the 30s at the same time. It just doesn’t make sense.
STORM ALERT 2007: What a crowd last night in Jasper; standing room only. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us; we will be in Jacksonville next Thursday night (at Jacksonville High School) as the annual severe weather awareness tour rolls along.
WEATHER PARTY: See the latest weather related news over on our sister site, weatherparty.com. If you register you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published to the front page.
We are back on the regular schedule today and we will have the next Weather Extreme video ready by 3:30 this afternoon!
