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Looks like a surface front is lined up at mid-afternoon from roughly Huntsville to Birmingham to Mobile. There is still a window of opportunity for showers and storms to fire up along the front this afternoon over the eastern half of the state; there is a tongue of unstable air just ahead from the front (surface based CAPE values to 250 j/kg as far north as Birmingham, SPC maintains a slight risk of severe storms for the southern half of Alabama through the evening hours. Don’t be surprised to a see a line of showers and storms forming near the front during the next hour or so. If storms do develop, they will have the potential to produce strong winds, especially south of Anniston, down through the east-central and southeast part of Alabama.
All of the rain will move out of the state tonight, and the weekend will be dry with a just a few scattered clouds around. The models keep flipping/flopping on temperatures Sunday; now the GFS and the NAM are showing mid 60s Sunday afternoon. The high tomorrow should be in the mid to upper 50s.
NEXT WEEK: Another dynamic storm system will impact Alabama early next week; the 12Z GFS shows a deepening surface low north of Alabama, with a trailing cold front and an associated line of storms. This run suggests the prime window for showers and storms will come from about 12:00 midnight through 8:00 a.m. Tuesday. And, some of those storms could be strong to severe. Hopefully the fact that the storms are coming through during the pre-dawn hours will keep the severe weather risk down somewhat, but good dynamics will come into play, and we sure can’t rule out strong to severe storms. Rainfall totals of one inch look likely with the system.
COLD BLAST WEDNESDAY: Much colder air blows into Alabama Wednesday; looks like we will have a hard time reaching the low to mid 40s with a significant freeze likely by early Thursday.
And, lots of action deep into voodoo land with a parade of short waves, but there is no skill in trying to identify any specific system far in advance. We will just take them one at a time.
STORM ALERT 2008: Your last chance to see our annual severe weather awareness show is Tuesday night of next week; we will be at Bethel Baptist Church in Moody at 7:00 Tuesday… their church building was destroyed by a tornado April 8, 1998, and that is a big story in our show this year. Hard to believe it has been ten years…
SPECIAL ABC 33/40 NOAA WEATHER RADIO OFFER: You can purchase a top of the line Midland NOAA Weather Radio at any Handy TV location in this part of Alabama for only $29.95. These receivers have the new digital technology that allows you to choose the counties for which the alarm sounds. Get more information here.
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.
I had a great time today visiting the 2nd graders at Bluff Park Elementary… be looking for them on the KIDCAM at 5:00 this evening on ABC 33/40 News. Brian Peters will have the Weather Xtreme video updates over the weekend… my next video will be posted here by 7:00 am. Monday. Enjoy the weekend!
