Drier Air Returns Tomorrow

**No afternoon Weather Xtreme video today due to ongoing thunderstorms**

STORMY AFTERNOON: A cold front is pushing a band of strong to severe thunderstorms across Alabama this afternoon. The storms are producing gusty winds and some small hail, but we have received hardly any reports of damage. The storms will end this evening as the front moves on to the east.

TOMORROW/THURSDAY: Expect a good supply of sunshine both days; the high tomorrow will be in the 67-70 degree range, and then we reach the mid 70s Thursday afternoon. We should mention Thursday morning will be cold for March with many places dipping into the mid to upper 30s.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Clouds will increase Friday ahead of a cold front, and we could see a few showers during the day. But, any rain on Friday should be relatively light and spotty. The front will become nearly stationary over far North Alabama Friday night, and a wave of low pressure will form on the front west of Alabama Saturday. As this wave moves across the state, rain should become widespread late Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. While some thunder is possible, with this situation severe weather most likely won’t be an issue…. looks mainly like mainly cool, soaking rain.

The rain will end very early Sunday morning; we expect gradual clearing during the day Sunday with cooler temperatures (the high will be in the 50s).

NORTH OF ALABAMA: Global models continue to show potential for accumulating snow over the weekend for much of Kentucky and far northern Tennessee… we all know we can have some pretty significant snow events in March.

NEXT WEEK: Forecast confidence is low; global models now suggest a decent part of the week will be dry, with comfortable days and cool nights. But, this could easily change in coming days.

STATE CLIMATOLOGIST REPORT: An excerpt from the monthly report coming from Dr. John Christy, Alabama state climatologist…

“For most of Alabama, it has been a long time since we saw a February this warm. If you look at the climate record, however, that’s hardly surprising: With the exception of 1990 (and now 2017), the 13 warmest Februaries on record in Alabama all happened at least 55 years ago. (13 because there is a tie for 12th.)
The February just past is the warmest on the Southeast Regional Climate Center’s 81-year climate record for both Huntsville and Montgomery. Huntsville’s average temperature (53.1°) was more than a full degree Fahrenheit warmer than the second warmest February (1990 at 51.9°), while Montgomery’s 59.4° was one tenth of a degree warmer than the previous warmest February in 1957.

It was also the second warmest February on record in both Mobile (61.4°) and Birmingham (55.4°).
It will be several days before the official statewide numbers come in, but early reports indicate February 2017 should slide easily into the state’s top five warmest Februaries.

But what (if anything) does that mean in terms of forecasting for the coming spring?

Generally speaking, absolutely nothing.

There is no apparent correlation between a warm winter and the spring weather that follows. We are no more likely to get March snow after a warm February than we are after a cold one. Violent weather is typically the result of short-term weather systems, rather than those that linger for weeks or months at a time.”

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Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

Tags: ANC, storms

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS