Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

Our Last Mild Afternoon For A While

| November 11, 2014 @ 6:22 am

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.

ONE MORE: We project a high close to 70 degrees this afternoon, a little above our average high of 66 for November 11. This, most likely, will be our warmest day for the rest of the month, so be sure and enjoy it. The sky will be partly sunny, although clouds will thicken late this afternoon.

ARCTIC FRONT ARRIVES LATE TONIGHT: The long advertised Arctic cold front will bring the risk of a touch of light rain to Alabama tonight, but many places won’t get enough rain to measure due to very limited moisture. If you are lucky you might see 0.05″.

Then, the big chill begins to arrive tomorrow. Communities north of Birmingham won’t get out of the 40s… for places like Tuscaloosa, Anniston, Gadsden, and Birmingham low 50s are possible, with mid 50s down at Montgomery. The sky will be mostly cloudy tomorrow with only a limited amount of sunshine.

TOO COLD FOR NOVEMBER: For Thursday and Friday, our weather will be dry but very cold for the middle of November. Highs in the 40s, lows in the 20s. The GFS is now printing a low of 24 degrees for Birmingham early Friday morning… meaning of course we could see a few colder pockets hitting the 18-22 degree zone over North Alabama. The record low for Birmingham for November 24 is 13 degrees set in 1970; that is not in danger.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday morning will feature another low in the 20s, and the high will be close to 50 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds. Clouds thicken Saturday night, and Sunday looks cold and wet with periods of rain as a surface low forms on the Gulf Coast. We won’t get out of the 40s Sunday, and rain amounts should be close to 1/2 inch. Some South Alabama communities could see close to one inch of rain Sunday.

SUNDAY NIGHT WINTER WEATHER MISCHIEF? North of Alabama, our friends in parts of Tennessee could be dealing with snow Sunday in the colder air, and as the surface low lifts northeast, I do believe there is a chance the rain could taper off as light snow over the northern third of Alabama. This is the projected snow depth from the GFS model valid Monday morning at 6:00 a.m…

mon_gfs+snow

The European model does not show any snow for North Alabama, and I don’t think we need to mention anything for now in our public forecast since there is very little skill in resolving something like this five days in advance. If we do see some snow north of Birmingham Sunday night, it should be fairly light.

One thing to point out is that global models really won’t have the ability to handle this well with such an anomalous cold air mass. We will watch model trends closely in coming days… just something to keep an eye on for now. Take some time to watch the Weather Xtreme video for all the maps, graphics, and more details.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the high school playoff games Friday night, we project a kickoff temperature around 40 degrees, then falling through the 30s during the games. Needless to say, you will need to bundle up. The sky will be clear.

The biggest college game in the country will be in Tuscaloosa Saturday as Mississippi State comes to town to take on Alabama. If you are planning on being with the ESPN GameDay crew, early morning temperatures will be in the upper 20s, rising through the 30s, and reaching the 40s by late morning. The kickoff temperature (2:30p CT) will be close to 52 degrees with a partly sunny sky, but as the sun goes down temperatures will drop quickly into the 40s during the second half.

Auburn will be over in Athens, GA to take on the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday evening (6:15p CT kickoff)… expect a party cloudy sky with a temperature near 46 degrees at kickoff, then dropping slowly through the 40s during the game.

NEXT WEEK: Yet another surge of very cold air drops into Alabama early next week; highs will be in the 40s, and lows in the 20s Monday and Tuesday.

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. Scroll down for the show notes on the new episode we recorded last night.

CONNECT: You can find me on all of the major social networks…

Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Instagram

Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 4:00 this afternoon… enjoy the day…

Tags:

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.

Comments are closed.