An Early Afternoon Look at Alabama’s Weather on a Nearly Perfect Day! Severe Weather Possible this Weekend

A nearly perfect April day is in progress across all of Alabama this afternoon. Skies are completely clear, except over far Southeast Alabama, where a few cumulus clouds have formed in a pool of moisture that has worked its way onshore on the back side of a weak mid-level low off the Georga coast.

Temperatures are in the lower 80s for the most part, with a few upper 70s still registering across North Alabama. Dewpoints are in the low 50s, giving the air a little refreshing feel. Lows tonight will be in the lower 60s.

The nearest rain to Alabama at this hour are some light showers over South Florida.

A deep low-pressure system is centered east of Pueblo, Colorado at this hour. It has a central pressure of 988 millibars after deepening rapidly last night and this morning. This low will curve up to near Omaha by tomorrow morning and into Minnesota by Friday morning. It is bringing a wide array of bad weather to the Plains and Upper Midwest. Blizzard warnings extend from eastern Colorado and northwest Kansas up through southeastern Wyoming, much of Nebraska, into South Dakota, northern Iowa and Minnesota. Over two feet of snow may fall in places, with winds gusting as high as 45 mph, making for blizzard conditions.

Lots of high wind warnings and wind advisories in advance of the system, which one would expect with the deep low-pressure system. Red flag warnings as well because of the high fire danger with the windy conditions. There is extreme fire danger today over West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

There is a severe weather threat today over the Central Plains, including an enhanced risk for parts of southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. Large hail and damaging winds are the main threats.

The severe weather threat will move to the Midwest tomorrow, with a slight risk area covering parts of Illinois and Indiana. Thunderstorms are possible down into the Mid-South including northern Louisiana, Mississippi, and northwestern Alabama. A few showers and storms will move into Alabama late tomorrow afternoon and more could show up Friday as the front sort of hangs across the area.

By Saturday morning, Alabama will find itself in the warm sector of a developing low-pressure center near Texarkana. Dewpoints will be increasing over Alabama and highs on Saturday will be in the 70s. It should be a dry day. Severe thunderstorms will break out over Arkansas and Louisiana and move into Mississippi during the evening. These storms will reach West Alabama during the night. Depending on the timing and placement of the system, significant severe weather may be possible, including the threat of damaging winds and tornadoes.

If we are lucky, the storms will arrive well after midnight, when instabilities are lower. But there will be some CAPE even during the overnight, and plenty of bulk shear to keep storms organized. There will be decent low-level helicity as well, hence the tornado threat. Keep your fingers crossed that the system is on the weaker side when it gets into Alabama thanks to the time of day, but keep a very close eye on things, because even 6 hours of difference in timing could make a huge difference for us.

The storms will move through teh area Sunday morning and be over East Alabama by afternoon. They could re-energize with the heating of the day before leaving the state, so we will be monitoring the trheat for Sunday as well.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS