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Cold Front Into North Alabama

| September 12, 2014 @ 6:15 am

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WET AT TIMES TODAY: We begin the day with a number of showers and thunderstorms over the northern half of Alabama as the long awaited cold front has dipped into the state from the north. The front has pretty much “run out of gas”, so it will only creep slowly southward today and tonight.

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We will maintain the chance of occasional showers and thunderstorms through tonight, but after 6:00 or 7:00 this evening, the best chance of showers will be generally along and south of I-20 as a drier airmass sags into North Alabama.

TOMORROW: Somewhat of a challenging forecast with a front draped over Central Alabama, but confidence in the general idea is good. We start the day with clouds during the morning hours, and there could be a little light rain or drizzle. Then, the afternoon should be rain-free. But, clouds could very well linger much of the day. You might see a little sun tomorrow afternoon, but probably not much. It will be cooler… a number of North Alabama towns won’t get out of the 70s due to the cloud cover and cool air advection. Showers will remain possible over the southern half of Alabama tomorrow afternoon, south of the front.

SUNDAY: The day looks mostly dry for North and Central Alabama with a mix of sun and clouds. Again, showers remain possible over South Alabama, generally south of a line from Wedowee to Clanton to Thomasville. The high Sunday should be in the low to mid 80s.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: Again this week we have the risk of a passing shower or storm for high school games tonight, mainly from Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Anniston south. The showers and and storms will be scattered, so it won’t rain everywhere, but a few stadiums could see some rain. Temperatures will be in the low 80s at kickoff, falling into the 70s by the fourth quarter. The chance of any one stadium seeing rain is in the 30-40 percent range along and south of I-20… few showers are expected to the north.

Alabama will host Southern Miss tomorrow evening (5:00p kickoff) at Bryant-Denny Stadium; at this point it looks like the sky will be occasionally cloudy, but the weather should be dry with a kickoff temperature near 83 degrees, falling through the 70s during the second half.

UAB hosts Alabama A&M tomorrow at Legion Field in Birmingham at 2:30p; the sky will be generally cloudy with only a slight risk of a shower. The temperature will be around 85 degrees at kickoff, falling into the upper 70s by the final whistle.

NEXT WEEK: The front dissipates, and moist air returns to North Alabama, so there will be some risk of showers on a daily basis. The 00Z GFS hints the best coverage of showers or storms could be on Wednesday, with a trend toward drier conditions Thursday and Friday. See the Weather Xtreme video for maps, graphics, and details.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm Edouard over the Central Atlantic could become a hurricane next week, but it will recurve over the open Atlantic far from land.

A new disturbance has emerged off the coast of Africa, and is south of the Cape Verde Islands; no immediate development is expected there.

The wave of interest for us is centered near West Palm Beach, Florida this morning. It is very disorganized, and is drifting to the west. Models pretty much have two scenarios for this; one is a southern track that will bring the system toward the southern Texas coast, and the other possibility is a higher latitude one that shows recurvature into the Central Gulf Coast and the Southeast U.S. next week. The good news is that upper air winds will remain generally unfavorable for this to develop into a tropical storm, but even disorganized tropical waves can bring some very significant rain. Also remember the Gulf of Mexico has been untouched this hurricane season and there is plenty of latent heat energy. We will keep a close eye on it; but for now odds are relatively high it won’t impact the northern or central part of Alabama. See the Weather Xtreme video for the maps.

GULF COAST WEATHER: About 6 to 8 hours of sunshine from Panama City west to Gulf Shores through the weekend with the daily threat of scattered storms; highs will be in the mid to upper 80s, and the sea water temperature early this morning at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab is a warm 87 degrees. The weather on the coast next week will be determined by the tropical wave discussed above.

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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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