Mild Thanksgiving Day For Alabama

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Clouds linger across much of Alabama this morning, with a few spots seeing dense fog… but we expect slow clearing today, with a partly sunny sky by afternoon. The average high for November 24 (for Birmingham) is 62 degrees, we will beat that by nearly 10 degrees today with most communities reaching the low 70s.

Tomorrow will be partly to mostly sunny with a high in the upper 60s; no weather issues to bother “Black Friday” shoppers.

REST OF THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND: Cooler air slips into the state; the high Saturday will drop into the low 60s, and temperatures will be close to freezing by early Sunday morning. Then, Sunday’s high will be in the mid 60s. Dry air stays in place and days will be sunny, nights clear.

IRON BOWL: A beautiful day for football in Tuscaloosa Saturday. For our state’s biggest game of the year (Auburn at Alabama, 2:30p CT kickoff at Bryant Denny Stadium), the sky will be sunny with temperatures falling from 62 degrees at kickoff, into the 50s during the second half.

STORMY SETUP EARLY NEXT WEEK: A dynamic storm system with good upper support will bring a potential high impact event to Alabama. After the mid-November pattern change, which opened the door for frequent traversing mid latitude waves, moisture has been inadequate for meaningful rain with the first few systems, but this will be a different story since the Gulf will be “wide open” beginning Monday. Dewpoints surge into the 60s by Tuesday, with precipitable water values rising to near 2 inches.

A sub-1000 millibar low will move from Missouri to the Great Lakes, and the trailing front, combined with a deep upper trough, will bring rain and strong storms to our state Tuesday and Tuesday night.

While it remains to be seen if severe storms will be involved, analog data hints it would be an issue…

Significant rain is very likely, with amounts over one inch very possible, if not likely. See the Weather Xtreme video for maps, graphics, and more details.

OTTO: Our late season hurricane is moving into the Central America coast this morning near the border of Costa Rico and Nicaragua. It will emerge into the eastern Pacific tonight, and will get a new name. The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.

AT THE BEACH: Mostly sunny days, fair nights on the coast from Panama City Beach to Gulf Shores through the weekend with highs in the 70s. See a very detailed Gulf Coast forecast here.

ON THIS DATE IN 2001: Thirty six tornadoes touched down on that Saturday in Alabama, setting a record for the number of tornadoes in a single day for the state until that time. It surpassed the previous record for the state which was set during the April 3, 1974 outbreak, when 27 twisters hit the state. Of course, the record would be shattered on April 27, 2011, when 62 tornadoes blitzed the state.

The first major tornado of the day cut a 39 mile path from near Kennedy in Lamar County to just south of Carbon Hill in Walker County. Two people died in a mobile home near Kennedy. An F2 tornado cut a short path through the town of Haleyville in Winston County just before 11:30 a.m, injuring 13 people. Just northeast of Birmingham, an F2 tornado moved along I-59 near Argo as it cut a nearly 14 mile path into St. Clair County.

The strongest tornado of the day touched down about 1:19 p.m. CST southeast of Oneonta in Blount County. The tornado produced three distinct areas of F4 damage. The other two fatalities of the day occurred near Sand Rock in Cherokee County just after 3 p.m. as an F2 tornado cut an 8 mile path. Again, the fatalities were in a mobile home.

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.

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We are on a holiday schedule, the next Weather Xtreme video will be posted here tomorrow morning. But, I will write new forecast notes later this afternoon. Enjoy the day with your family and again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Tags: ANC, mild

Category: Alabama's Weather