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.
HOT, HUMID, A FEW AFTERNOON STORMS: Alabama’s weather won’t change much today. Partly sunny, hot, and humid with random, scattered showers and thunderstorms around mostly between 2:00 and 10:00 p.m. Odds of any one spot getting wet this afternoon are 35-45 percent, and the high will be at or just over 90 degrees. The average high for Birmingham on July 26 is 91.
CLASSIC SUMMER DAY: This is just what we expect in Alabama in late July. A hot, humid afternoon with random, slow moving, scattered showers and storms across the state. Temperatures are generally in the 89-94 degree range, but where rain is falling we are seeing upper 70s. Scattered storms end after sunset, and the sky becomes mostly fair late tonight.
LATE JULY IN ALABAMA: We expect very routine summer weather across Alabama this week. An upper ridge is parked across the southern U.S… with the mid-latitude westerlies (the “jet stream”) on top of the heat ridge over the northern states. This will set the stage for partly sunny, hot, humid days with random, scattered showers and thunderstorms around during the afternoon and evening hours, mostly between around 2:00 and 10:00 p.m.
RADAR CHECK: Showers and thunderstorms continue across Southeast Alabama this afternoon, mostly south of a line from Andalusia to Phenix City. The rest of the state is seeing more clouds than sun thanks to a MCV (Mesoscale Convective Vortex) spinning away over the western counties of the state. Storms will end across Southeast Alabama later tonight; the sky becomes mostly fair for the rest of the state.
RADAR CHECK: We have some lingering light rain early this morning across parts of West, Central, and Southwest Alabama… rotating around an MCV (mesoscale convective vortex) southwest of Birmingham. This is all that is left of the big thunderstorm complex that brought damaging winds, flooding, hail, and thousands of lightning strokes to the state yesterday and last night. This rain will end over the next few hours, and by afternoon most of the scattered showers and storms will be found over the southern quarter of the state.
RADAR CHECK: Strong storms are on the Alabama/Georgia state line at mid-afternoon… a severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for parts of Chambers County as I write this update. And, new showers and storms are forming near the Tennessee River. We expect a marked increase in the number of thunderstorms over the next few hours, and where storms do form that could be severe in spots with potential for strong winds, heavy rain, and lots of lightning.
ACTIVE WEATHER EXPECTED LATER TODAY: We have a few isolated showers early this morning over Northwest Alabama, but we expect scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and tonight ahead of a surface boundary in a very unstable airmass. SPC maintains a “slight risk” (level 2/5) of severe thunderstorms for Central Alabama, with a “marginal risk” (level 1/5) for the rest of the state.
RADAR CHECK: So far today showers and storms have been a no-show over much of Alabama… the only ones on radar at mid-afternoon are over Mobile and Baldwin counties in the southwest corner of the state. The sky is partly to mostly sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 90s. Still some risk of a few isolated storms through the evening hours… and a storm could drop into the Tennessee Valley tonight ahead of a surface front.
A FEW STORMS THIS AFTERNOON: The radar shows no rain across Alabama early this morning, but we expect a few scattered showers and thunderstorms during the peak of the daytime heating process this afternoon and early tonight (mostly between 2:00 and 10:00 p.m.). The chance of any one spot getting wet is 20-30 percent, and the high will be in the 91-96 degree range for most places.
