Another Very Warm March Afternoon

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…

STILL WARM, STILL DRY: Actually, we should note that Muscle Shoals, up in the northwest corner of Alabama, did pick up 0.43″ of rain late last night. But, most of the state remains dry, dusty, and pollen covered this afternoon. Most communities are in the low 80s as of mid-afternoon, about 10 to 15 degrees above normal for late March, and the only shower I see on our Pinpoint Doppler Radar at 2:45 is near Tupelo, Mississippi. That sure won’t help us.

TOMORROW: Warm is the word. The GFS is forecasting a high of 88 in Birmingham tomorrow, and that just might be pretty close as we will be directly under a strong upper ridge. The record high for tomorrow (March 29) is 85 degrees, set in 1928, and it is very much in danger. The day will feature a good supply of sunshine.

FRIDAY: Cooler air will move into the state from the east tomorrow night, and Friday should be about 10 degrees cooler statewide. The GFS prints 74, while the NAM shows 68 on Friday for Birmingham (maximum temperature). The GFS is probably the better model in this case; the high Friday should be in the low to mid 70s with a cool breeze out of the east. The day should be dry.

THE WEEKEND: The GFS continues to slow down the big upper trough, and accordingly it now holds off the best chance of showers over the weekend until late Saturday night and Sunday. This means much of the day Saturday should be dry. We are still looking at rainfall amounts between 1/4 and 1/2 inch, and the chance of severe weather remains very small with the main dynamics passing well to the north of here, and the lack of instability.

NEXT WEEK: The front will stall out and dissipate over Alabama Sunday night and Monday, but a few showers will remain possible. Then, another cold front is poised to bring a nice round of showers and storms late Tuesday, Tuesday night, and early Wednesday, followed by a shot of cooler air.

The overall pattern continues to favor wetter and cooler weather for Alabama during the month of April; hopefully we will be able to make up some of the big rain deficit that has built up (we are now 8.44″ below normal!).

STORM ALERT 2007: If you missed our prime time TV special this past Sunday, you can watch it online… it is posted over on the ABC 33/40 weather video page.

WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page.

I had a great time up at Gardendale’s First Baptist Church this morning speaking to the pre-school and K5 kids there… be watching for them on ABC 33/40 this evening at 5:00 on the KIDCAM. I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

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