A Chill In The Air
An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
The big change to colder weather continues for Alabama and the eastern half of the nation. Lets look at the output statistics from the GFS (Global Forecast System) for Birmingham; these are the projected lows for the next few days:
Tomorrow morning 33 (the NAM model is printing 31)
Saturday morning 26 (the NAM shows 27)
Sunday morning 23
Monday morning 28
Once again, the trend is toward colder temperatures. If by chance the GFS is correct, and we wind up at 23 early Sunday, that will be the coldest temperature ever recorded during the month of April in Birmingham. And, weather records go back here into the 1880s. But, that seems a bit aggressive and for now we have forecast a low of 26 for early Sunday (that will tie the record low for the month of April, last set on April 11, 1973 when the low was 26).
And we need to stress (like we always do) that this is not a “one number” kind of place. Variations in terrain, wind, cloud cover, and closeness to urban areas all come into play. Actual temperatures early Sunday will probably range from 22 to 32.
Another factor to watch is the possible development of a big mass of rain and storms along the western Gulf coast Saturday night and Sunday; if high clouds coming from that rain area spread into North Alabama, that would keep temperatures out of the 20s. But, even then, a light freeze is likely. And, those clouds will probably be very thin, and might not impact morning lows at all.
BOTTOM LINE: Plan now for freezing temperatures Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning. And early tomorrow some of the colder spots might even touch 32 degrees for a brief time.
STILL DRY: No rain for Alabama with this cold air; we will remain dry through Tuesday of next week. The GFS continues to show our next good chance of rain on Wednesday of next week (April 11)… and with a vigorous upper trough and increasing instability, we might be dealing with strong to severe thunderstorms at that time. In the longer range, the GFS shows nice rain events around April 14 and April 16, and another pretty sharp cold snap around April 18. The weather is always interesting this time of the year.
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 will have one final session with management and leadership teams from Central Alabama McDonalds restaurants this morning at the Bessemer Civic Center… I sure enjoyed being there yesterday. From Bessemer I will head over to Chalkville Elementary, where I will be speaking to the first graders. Then, back to the ABC 33/40 Weather Office where I will get the afternoon Weather Xtreme video produced and edited, and posted to the web and iTunes by 3:30. Never a dull moment around here!
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