Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

Heating Up

| May 9, 2011 @ 6:06 am | 1 Reply

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER: A strong upper ridge should keep Alabama rain-free through mid-week, and set up the warmest weather so far in 2011. The high today will be in the upper 80s, and very close to 90 degrees tomorrow and Wednesday. Each day should feature a good supply of hazy sunshine through scattered clouds, as the sky looks more and more like June instead of May. All of the active convection will remain on the periphery of the upper ridge, not impacting our state.

LATER THIS WEEK: The big upper trough out west begins to lift out Thursday, setting up a potentially active thunderstorm day from North Texas to the Upper Midwest, where SPC has defined a “slight” risk of severe weather, their standard risk. Then, on Friday, the cold front drags into Alabama, and that will bring our next chance of showers and thunderstorms. The good news is that the main upper support will be well to the north, and severe weather should not be an issue around here as the front arrives. Some thunder is certainly possible, however. For now it looks like rain on Friday will be generally 1/2 inch or less.

THE WEEKEND: Let me say up front the weekend forecast confidence is not very high due to varying computer model solutions. Bottom line is that a deep upper low is forecast to develop across the eastern third of the nation over the weekend, and there is a chance the surface front will stall out somewhere around here. While the GFS shows a pretty good dry slot over Alabama Saturday, the ECMWF is wetter, and I think we have to mention at least the chance of a shower or two at this point. No all-day rain, or a wash-out, but a shower is certainly possible. And, pretty much the same thing for Sunday as the upper low slowly drops to the south. Temperatures will be cooler over the weekend, with a high around 80 Saturday, and only in the 70s on Sunday.

NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: A deep upper trough over the eastern U.S. should keep our weather somewhat cool and a bit unsettled Monday with a chance of showers and a high only in the upper 60s. We trend drier and warmer toward the middle of next week. See the Weather Xtreme video for long range ideas; still no classic severe weather setup shows up for the next 15 days for Alabama.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 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. We will record this week’s episode tonight at the regular time; 8:30 p.m. CDT.

FOLLOW ALONG: Here are our weather team Twitter accounts….

James Spann Jason Simpson Ashley Brand
J. B. Elliott Bill Murray Brian Peters
Dr. Tim Coleman WeatherBrains Podcast E-Warn (AL wx watches/warnings)

Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon. Enjoy the day…

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Category: Alabama's Weather

About the Author ()

James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.

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