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Temperatures Reminiscent of Spring

| January 14, 2017 @ 7:03 am

A dense fog advisory was in effect until 9 am for the northern third of Alabama roughly along and north of the I-20 corridor. Friday was a warm day for mid-January in Central Alabama. So warm, in fact, that record highs were either set or tied. Birmingham’s high for Friday was 78 breaking the old record of 77 set in 1932. Montgomery’s high was 81 breaking the old record of 79 set in 1907. Anniston’s high was 75 which tied the record set in 1995. Tuscaloosa came close, too, with a high of 78 which was one degree shy of the record high of 79 set in 1972.

After the foggy conditions improve, we should see a mix of sun and clouds today with our afternoon highs climbing into the middle 70s. Once again the record highs for today will be in jeopardy. The records for today include:
Anniston 73 (2007)
Birmingham 78 (1932)
Tuscaloosa 75 (1960)
Montgomery 80 (1932)

If your plans include the beach, you can expect partly to mostly sunny skies through the weekend and into early next week. A chance of showers and thunderstorms returns for Martin Luther King Day through mid-week. Highs will be at or just over 70 degrees throughout the forecast period. See the complete Gulf Coast 7 Day Planner here.

While the Southeast US was enjoying weather more typical of Spring than January, a broad swath of the country from the Oklahoma Panhandle to southern Pennsylvania was experiencing icing issues. The pinks and purples were primarily winter weather warnings for ice while the off-blue color on the map indicated areas under a winter storm watch.

The upper air pattern is one that we should be fairly familiar with. The current pattern featured a strong upper ridge over the northeastern Gulf Coast with a very deep trough and closed low near Baja California. This pattern was tapping into Pacific moisture that was riding into the Central US along the front dividing the warmer air over the Southeast US from the cold air in the Central US and creating a great deal of issues.

The upper trough over Baja California will remain in place through Thursday, but a fairly sizable short wave will be ejecting out to the northeast reaching the Great Lakes in the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame. While all of this action is going on to the northwest and north of us, we stay in spring-like weather with a mix of sun and clouds and highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.

Tuesday into Wednesday the pattern begins a shift as the upper ridge gets beaten down by short waves coming out of northern Mexico. This pattern will once again drag a front into our area early Wednesday giving us a likely chances for rain. Rainfall amounts for us are likely to remain less than an inch with most locations getting rain seeing less than half an inch. We stay unsettled on Thursday with small chances for rain with the stationary front stalled in the area, generally along the I-20 corridor. A potent short wave comes out of the Southwest US on Friday ramping up rain chances once again. Temperatures will remain unseasonably warm into the weekend.

By Saturday, the upper air pattern continues to show a trough over the western US with the ridge pumping up along the US eastern seaboard. This keeps us in a southwesterly flow, so we probably won’t be clearing out much with some chance for rain. Temperatures will remain mild but shrink from being near record levels.

The longer range outlook from the GFS presents a really strong trough coming out across the Mississippi River Valley on Monday. This pattern with a surface low in the vicinity of Paducah, KY, would suggest the potential for a round of severe weather, but this is into voodoo country, so we’ll need to maintain a watchful eye on this to see if it does develop. The upper pattern goes chilly with a trough along the Mississippi River by Tuesday the 24th. By Thursday, the 26th, the GFS has gone nearly zonal with the pattern as yet another trough begins to take shape digging into the Southwest US.

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I plan to have the next Weather Xtreme Video posted here between 7 and 7:30 tomorrow morning. Enjoy the spring-like weather and have a great day. Godspeed.

-Brian-

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Category: Alabama's Weather

About the Author ()

Brian Peters is one of the television meteorologists at ABC3340 in Birmingham and a retired NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist. He handles the weekend Weather Xtreme Videos and forecast discussion and is the Webmaster for the popular WeatherBrains podcast.

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