Archive for April 21st, 2012
Showers and Storms in South Central Alabama
Showers and storms have really blossomed in the past couple of hours on the northern periphery of the rapidly intensifying surface low in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
The storms are not severe, but they are packing some lightning in the I-85 corridor of East Alabama between Auburn and Montgomery.
The low may still bring severe weather to Florida overnight.
There have been severe thunderstorms in North Carolina and around Philadelphia this evening. The City of Brotherly Love was under a severe thunderstorm warning for a time.
Flash flood watches are already posted in the northeast where heavy rain is likely tomorrow. On the back side of the low, heavy snow is forecast for places like Beckley and Elkins WV, Johnstown PA and Buffalo NY. Pittsburgh could even se six or more inches of heavy wet snow.
Vienna Sausage Roll
JB turned 80 on Tuesday, April 17th. Friend of the Blog Chuck Biddinger and his wife took JB and Judy to eat at a Japanese Steakhouse. We always like to hear about what JB had for lunch on WeatherBrains each week, so we will be interested to hear if any sushi was involved. The restaurant owners might want to introduce a new sushi roll called the Vienna. It would consist of sliced vienna sausage, rice, a little wasabi and seaweed wrap.
When I saw the first picture that shows JB eating a candle, it might be a bad sign that the Japanese food was not to his liking and he had to revert to eating things off the cake. But Chuck assures us that JB did indeed suck down a good amount of the delicious cuisine. No truth to the rumor that JB liked the dessert better than those Chinese doughnuts he eats with Dr. Tim Coleman nearly every Sunday.
Chuck made sure the event was chronicled well. Thanks for sharing Chuck! And thanks for taking care of our mentor!
Last Online Spotter Training Class Tuesday Evening
From our buddy Scott Unger at the National Weather Service:
Our last online spotter class of the season is Tuesday evening at 630 pm.
Here is the spotter webpage.
And here is the sign up link.
Breezy Sunday Ahead
Skies have been mostly cloudy across Central Alabama on this April Saturday. They have been thickest in the Northwest, behind a cold front that was near the I-85 corridor. Temperatures have been mild across Central Alabama, in the upper 60s to middle 70s. The warmest readings have been in the east, where there have been a few breaks in the clouds. In Northwest Alabama, the mercury is struggling. Muscle Shoals and Haleyville were in the 50s at mid-afternoon. The clearing line had passed Memphis and will ease across Alabama tonight. Lows tonight will be in the middle 40s.
BREEZY SUNDAY: There is a surface low in the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon. It will move inshore near Tampa tonight and start up the East Coast. It will strengthen explosively as it passes the North Carolina Outer Banks. In a proactive move, NWS offices in the Northeast are already starting to post flash flood watches for tomorrow. This strong low will cause really strong winds out of the north and northwest here in Alabama for us on Sunday. They will average 10-20 mph and frequently gust above 25 mph. This will make it feel a little uncomfortable, despite a good supply of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s. AS the big upper level low associated with the system wraps up over the Carolinas as well, clouds may wrap back in here from the northwest, making it feel even chillier.
TALKING ABOUT CHILLY: Sunday night lows will not be as cold as they might be, thanks to the winds remaining brisk. Still, we will see lows in the lower and middle 40s by Monday morning. Monday will be even chillier than Sunday, despite near total sunshine, as the cooler air being deposited by those northwesterly winds will start to build up. Then, if the winds go calm Monday night, we could see widespread lows in the 30s. This could cause some frost in Northeast Alabama.
Cloudy Today with Cooler Days Ahead
The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme Video on iTunes by clicking here.
Looks like a cloudy, somewhat drab day in store for Central Alabama as we experience some patchy light rain and a passing shower or two thanks to our position between systems. Clouds will help to keep the high temperatures today around the 70 degree mark. Rainfall is expected to be light and very spotty. Most locations will probably be dry with only those spots that see an isolated shower getting any measurable rain.
The upper trough swings into the Southeast Sunday with a cutoff low over the Mid-Atlantic states by Monday. This sets up a very strong northwesterly flow over the middle section of the country bringing some dryer and much colder air into the Southeast. That northwesterly flow stays with us into Tuesday and we could see some upper 30s lows on Tuesday morning. This means that we may also see some patchy light frost to go with those chilly morning temperatures on Tuesday.
But the upper pattern begins to flatten on Wednesday as the deep trough moves into the Atlantic and the upper ridge to our west gradually edges closer to us. The pattern remains quiet for us while a strong trough moves across the Great Lakes on Thursday. This will drag a front into the Ohio River Valley on Thursday and the Tennessee River Valley on Friday. It may be close enough for us to see some showers, so we’ll need to watch evolution of that feature in future model runs. However, the ridge moves over us on Saturday which should wash out the front and dampen the rain chances for us while a vigorous trough moves through the Rockies by Saturday.
Looking into week two of the GFS, there is a strong ridge over the eastern half of the country at the end of April, the 30th, but the flow goes more zonal by the 5th of May. So there is no sign of anything dramatic as we stay in a relatively warm and somewhat tranquil pattern.
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Looks like we’ll get a chance to use our jackets at least one more time with a little chilly weather for the upcoming week. Glad to see some cooler days to make up for the heat of March. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I do expect to have the next Weather Xtreme Video posted by 7:30 or 8 tomorrow morning. Godspeed.
-Brian-
For your meteorological consulting needs, Coleman, Knupp, and Peters, LLC, can provide you with accurate, detailed information on past storms, lightning, flooding, and wind damage. Whether it is an insurance claim needing validation or a court case where weather was a factor, we can furnish you with information you need. Please call us at (205) 568-4401.
