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Mid-July and it is almost cold! Okay, maybe that’s a slight over done description, but on Mt. Cheaha where I am this weekend, it only got to about 76 or 77 for a high and it is in the middle 60s this morning. Those mid 60s seem cold especially with the wind blowing at 10 to 20 mph giving me a chill factor! The high at the Birmingham airport yesterday only reached 79 which seems almost impossible for mid-July. The average high for July 14th is 91, so we were 12 degrees below the typical values for this time of year. Clouds will do that to you.
More rain fell across Central Alabama yesterday, but it still came in the form of showers, so not everyone got wet. Some spots got a good dousing. I recorded 17 hundredths at my house which sure helps the grass and bushes. And the unsettled weather pattern should stay with us for the next couple of days. The culprit that is bringing the unsettled weather is an upper level low pressure area. It is somewhat weak, but it is still strong enough to add enough lift to the moist air to bring large areas of showers. This morning a few showers were showing up on radar around Anniston and another large area was back in Southwest Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana. With the upper level low sticking around through Monday, I think we’ll see numerous showers once again. Certainly welcome with our rainfall deficit as bad as it is.
The GFS is showing our pattern returning to a more typical summer-like one by mid-week. This means showers every afternoon and evening but not as numerous as we’re seeing today and Monday.
But there has been a big change in the GFS as we get into the latter portion of the week. The GFS was pushing the east coast trough further east, but now it is keeping the trough anchored over the eastern US. In fact, by Friday and Saturday, a strong short wave trough coming down the west side of the long wave trough should help to push a cold front into the Tennessee River Valley. We are getting close to voodoo land, so the timing could very easily change on this, but if it is correct, we could see another round of numerous showers by next weekend.
In the longer range, also known as voodoo land, the GFS is keeping the east coast trough through the 25th or so and then replacing it with a strong upper high. So hot weather is likely to return by the end of the month, but with a continuation of those scattered showers.
I hope you have a great Sunday. Looks like the clouds have come back in so the visibility here is done to less than half a mile. Good day to curl up with a good book or play Boggle. James Spann will be back with the next Weather Xtreme Video bright and early tomorrow morning. God bless.
-Brian-
