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Summer Starts

| June 21, 2014 @ 7:13 am

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Summer is officially off and running as of 5:51 am, so let the fireworks begin. And it looks like we’ll probably be seeing fireworks in the form of thunderstorms today and off and on for the week ahead.

In the short term, the upper ridge has broken down a little with slight troughiness along the eastern seaboard. Together with precipitable water values running close to 2 inches, thunderstorms should be fairly numerous today driven primarily by afternoon heating. Precipitable water values fall slightly Sunday across North and Central Alabama, so I expect to see a reduction in storms especially from Birmingham to the northeast. Storms could still be fairly numerous over South Alabama Sunday where precipitable water values don’t change much. Highs should climb into the lower 90s today.

The week ahead looks unsettled with thunderstorms pretty much a daily occurrence. Precipitable water values stay high across much of the Southeast US plus with the ridge suppressed somewhat, there are various small short wave disturbances that will be moving through the upper atmosphere. While daytime heating is likely to be the primary driving factor in storm production, the timing of these short waves could result in storms even in the morning hours. And the GFS keeps this unsettled pattern with an upper level weakness over the Lower Mississippi Valley for much of the middle and latter part of the week. So it could be wetter than typically seen plus with the increased clouds and rainfall potential, highs should top out in the upper 80s for most places.

FOR THE BEACH: Look for 6 to 8 hours of sunshine each day through Monday from Panama City to Gulf Shores with a few scattered showers and storms around. Showers and storms will become a little more numerous into next week. Highs along the immediate coast will be in the upper 80s, with lower 90s inland. The sea water temperature at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab this afternoon is a toasty 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

TROPICS remain quiet, and tropical storm formation is not expected across the Atlantic Basin through next week.

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Don’t forget to get fresh vegetables every Saturday through the summer at Helena’s Market Days from 8 am to noon. There are other great items, too, along with cooking demonstrations at Helena’s Amphitheater Park on Buck Creek. I expect to have the next Weather Xtreme Video posted by 8 am or so on Sunday. Godspeed.

-Brian-

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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