Higher Rain Coverage Possible Next Week

STILL HOT, STILL HUMID: Alabama’s weather won’t change much through the weekend. After all, this is August. Partly sunny, hot, muggy days with “scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms”. Best chance of a passing storm will come between 2:00 and 9:00 p.m… and some could be strong. We note we had a couple of wet microbursts yesterday, including one in Etowah County that knocked down trees and power lines in parts of Southside, Rainbow City, and Gadsden.

The air should be a little more unstable Sunday, so the coverage of scattered storms should be a little higher. We project highs in the mid 90s today and tomorrow, with low 90s Sunday.

POTENTIAL CHANGES NEXT WEEK: Global models are in decent agreement; the GFS and the ECMWF (Euro) suggest a broad surface low will form across Alabama and Georgia, drifting southward down toward the northeast Gulf of Mexico. This should bring an increase in the number of showers and storms to the region next week, with lower heat levels. In fact, both models hint we could stay below 90 degrees much of the week because of increased cloud cover and shower/storm activity.

NHC will be monitoring the system as it drifts into the northeast Gulf of Mexico for potential tropical development, but it doesn’t take a tropical depression or storm for heavy rain… a broad low can sure do the trick.

Graphic below is the projected rain over the next 10 days from the ECMWF…

The good news is that there is no sign of any nasty triple digit heat around here this month, which we all know can happen easily in August.

AT THE BEACH: About 6 to 8 hours of sunshine through the weekend from Gulf Shores over to Panama City Beach, with a passing thunderstorm from time to time. Highs on the immediate coast will be in the upper 80s, with low to mid 90s inland. Showers and storms will be increasing next week on the coast. See a very detailed Gulf Coast forecast here.

TROPICS: Earl is weakening over southern Mexico, and the rest of the Atlantic basin for now is quiet.

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

Category: Alabama's Weather