Some Clouds as We Warm Up

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We’re closing out the Fourth of July weekend with another great day of mostly sunny weather as our highs return to values typical for early July with highs reaching near 90. Our atmosphere remained very dry aloft but moisture levels will creep up today and into the first of the week as we see the low level flow come around to the southeast and then the south. Some early morning clouds passing Central Alabama plus a slight uptick in the humidity means a slightly milder start to the day than that truly refreshing start we saw yesterday morning with lows dipping into the 50s generally along and north of the I-20 corridor.

The good news is that the overall upper air pattern retains the ridge in the West and a general trough over the East which keeps the heat in check. The trough deepens somewhat in response to a strong short wave moving through the westerlies across the southern tier of Canada. Unlike the last front, this trough should signal the approach of a cold front from the north on Wednesday that is likely to get into the area before stalling out like many fronts do in the summertime.

With the humidity levels up, we should see a return to showers and isolated thunderstorms from Wednesday through the end of the week and into next weekend. Daytime heating is expected to be the main driving force in shower development with rain chances becoming the best on Thursday.

The trough pulls out to the northeast by the latter part of the week with ridging building again over the Central Mississippi River Valley, leaving a warm and unstable air mass in place across the Southeast with daily chances for showers or thunderstorms.

Beach goers continue to see a good supply of sun along the Alabama and Northwest Florida beaches with afternoon highs reaching the upper 80s. Scattered showers return to the forecast into Tuesday and the rest of the week with moisture levels up. Gulf water temperatures were still running in the range of 82 to 84.

Tropics remain quiet now that Arthur is gone.

The longer range model projections maintain the idea of the ridge in the West and the slight trough in the East through the middle of July, but major ridging was back in the picture by July 21st.

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Thanks for tuning into the Weather Xtreme Video. James Spann will be back from his vacation with the next edition of the video on Monday morning. Enjoy the end of the July Fourth weekend. Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather