An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
Nice to have a non-severe, pre-dawn round of thunderstorms pass through here. The storms have been steadily weakening since they passed through Memphis last night, and we just have some good rain falling across Alabama this morning.
We don’t expect any serious problems with severe weather today with the main upper support of this system passing well to the north of Alabama. The surface front, accordingly, will become stationary somewhere across this part of Alabama today, keeping the weather wet at times through tonight.
TOMORROW/THURSDAY: The front goes nowhere tomorrow, and I think we need to mention the chance of a few showers through the day because of that. It won’t rain all day, but a shower will be possible at any hour of the day. There simply isn’t any significant drying showing up, and I think that is the right solution.
Showers will also be in the forecast Thursday. And, temperatures will be very problematic with a surge of warmer air moving in from the south, and a surge of colder air moving in from the east (the wedge). It could be a day with a high near 80 in Tuscaloosa, and near 60 in Heflin and other communities near the Georgia border. Like tomorrow, we won’t have a wash-out Thursday, but a few showers will be around.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY: A strong spring storm system will impact Alabama Friday, and SPC now has all of Alabama in a severe weather risk Friday afternoon, Friday night, and into early Saturday morning (see the Weather Xtreme video and the Day 4/5 convective outlook). This one will have better upper support, and instability values do indeed suggest a chance of strong to severe storms, mainly in the period from 12:00 p.m. Friday through 12:00 midnight Friday night.
The 00Z GFS now pushes all of the rain of Alabama early in the day Saturday, by 9:00 a.m. Saturday afternoon should be dry with a clearing sky.
SUNDAY/MONDAY: These days will be dry with seasonal temperatures. Pleasant spring weather.
NEXT WEEK: A potent system shows up around the middle part of next week; severe storms could become a problem Wednesday or Thursday (April 9/10).
VOODOO LAND: The cold look the GFS was advertising around April 15 is now long gone. That is why we call it voodoo country.
RADAR REMINDER: As we posted here late last week, our Pinpoint Doppler Radar is down; we are waiting on a major component, and that is scheduled to be installed Friday morning. In the meantime, you can watch our radar with NEXRAD data anytime on our live stream; you can access that from our main ABC 33/40 Weather page… just click on the button that says “click here to watch live” on the right sidebar.
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. Scroll down for the show notes… the new episode features the April 3-4, 1974 “Superoutbreak” of tornadoes, and some of the weather legends that worked the event… including Allen Pearson, who was director of SELS (the old name of the Storm Prediction Center) at the time, and Bob Ferry, Meteorologist In Charge of the Birmingham NWS office. A really fascinating discussion…
PRIME TIME TV SPECIAL: Join ABC 33/40 on the occasional of the tenth anniversary of the April 8, 1998 F5 tornado for a prime time weather special. The show will air from 6:30 until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8; for one hour we will look back at this historic storm, through the eyes of those that covered the storm for ABC 33/40, and those in the path of the storm who survived. We will also be going to a live memorial service at Open Door Church, one of the many churches who lost their building that horrible Wednesday night.
Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon… enjoy the day!
