A Cool Change

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Anyone remember this song from the Little River Band?

“If there’s one thing in my life that’s missing
It’s the time I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear waters
There’s lots of those friendly people
Showin me ways to go
And I never want to lose your inspiration
Time for
a cool change…”

Actually my favorite LRB song was “Reminiscing”…

What a breath of fresh air. Birmingham is reporting 52 degrees at 5:00… to the north Decatur has dropped to 49. Today will be a sunny day with pleasantly cool temperatures, low humidity, a fresh north breeze, and excellent visibility. Pretty much the same story tomorrow, although we will be a few degrees cooler as a fresh supply of cool air drops southward.

Still looks like our coolest morning will be early Saturday; the GFS MOS shows 47 for Birmingham, while the NAM now has us down to 45. The record low for Saturday (May 19) is 43, set in 1976… we will be close, and I do think some of the colder valleys will drop down into the low 40s. You have to wonder if some of the colder spots actually reach the upper 30s.

FINE WEEKEND: We will begin a slow warming trend over the weekend; the latest guidance is coming in cooler, however. Looks like we might not reach 80 on Saturday (and nobody is griping about that!) despite maximum sunshine. Then, on Sunday, low to mid 80s are likely, but the humidity will remain very low. Somebody with the Regions Charity Golf Classic is living right… you won’t find weather better than this for a big golf tournament.

NEXT WEEK: Still dry for the first half of next week, although the GFS is now showing a wedge of cooler air moving in here from the east on Tuesday and Wednesday. This should mean daytime temperatures backing off a bit, and maybe a few cloudy periods. But, it still looks like our next chance of rain will come one week from today (Thursday May 24) when another cold front passes through. It looks very similar to what happened yesterday with rain generally between one-quarter and one-half inch. Of course, we are seven days out and the timing and intensity of the event could change.

LONG RANGE: The GFS continues to show rather nervous conditions across the West Caribbean and the Southeast Gulf of Mexico during the next few weeks; we will be watching for any sign of early season tropical storm formation down there. SSTs are pretty warm; buoy 42056 near the Yucatan channel is showing a water temperature of 83.7 degrees this morning. Yikes.

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Wow… this school year is pretty much over. I will be at Greystone Elementary today, Avondale Elementary tomorrow, and then I speak to the graduating seniors at Hunter Street Baptist Church Sunday morning. That will wrap it up for the school calendar for me for the 2006-2007 school year. Of course, over the summer the show “goes on” with lots of summer library programs, camps, VBS programs, etc.

I will have the next Weather Xtreme video posted by 3:30 this afternoon.. enjoy the cool breeze today!

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