Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

Warm and Humid along with Showers

| September 6, 2015 @ 7:52 am

Grace forms in the Atlantic and showers and thunderstorms will persist for Alabama through the Labor Day holiday and well into next week.

Not much change in the overall thinking for the forecast for Central Alabama. We have an area of lower pressure evident in the 500 millibar pattern, and forecast models continue the trend of migrating that low across South Alabama and into the northern Gulf of Mexico. This upper low will help to aid the lift of afternoon heating to create several clusters of thunderstorms. Remember to take the lightning seriously and don’t risk a dash to your house or car when lightning is occurring near you. Rain will be spotty as it is with showers. The temperature at my house dropped 19 degrees yesterday as showers occurred nearby and I heard a lot of thunder, but I did not get a drop in the rain gauge. Highs today should once again top out around the 90-degree mark with some spots pushing into the lower 90s.

By the middle of the week, this pesky low should phase up with a strong trough that will be moving across the Great Lakes region and extending southward into the Southeast US. This should be enough to bring a front into the Southeast US in the Friday/Saturday time frame. The GFS maps bring the front through on Saturday, but the GFS MOS numbers don’t show an appreciable drop in dew points until Saturday/Sunday time frame.

Like we saw yesterday, these thunderstorms can pack a punch with strong straight line wind a potential danger. But there is no area defined by SPC for severe storms in the Southeast US. SPC does show an area of slight risk for storms in the North Central US affecting parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for today. Days 2 and 3 feature only a marginal risk for severe storms in the Central US centered on Missouri and Kansas.

In the tropics, Fred is back to a depression and Grace become a tropical storm yesterday not long after it was named. Grace is moving on a westerly course and is expected to gain a little strength as it moves toward the Leeward Islands. Conditions in the tropics remain somewhat hostile, so Grace is not expected to gain enough strength to become a hurricane for the next five days. Having passed south of the Cape Verde Islands, Grace is currently a threat only to maritime interests.

Headed to the beach? Scattered showers and storms will be fairly common occurrences along the beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida. But, you can still expect 6 to 8 hours of sunshine daily from Dauphin Island to Panama City Beach through the Labor Day weekend. Highs stay in the upper 80s on the immediate coast, with sea water temperatures mostly in the lower and mid 80s.

Looking out into week 2 also known as voodoo country, the GFS keeps an active pattern going withy another substantial trough moving across the northern tier of the US around the 17th with another strong short wave trough moving out of the Southwest US around the 21st. The pattern stays just active enough for us to see rain chances every few days, but there does not appear to be any signs of extreme heat or cold to deal with.

James Spann should be back with the next Weather Xtreme Video on Monday morning, but being a holiday, he will probably be on a one-a-day schedule for the videos. Have a great day and Godspeed.

-Brian-

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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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