Weather Xtreme Video: Severe Threat Will End as Storms Pass; Cooler Today through Monday Night; More Storms Thursday

It has been another dark and stormy night across North and Central Alabama ahead of a strong spring storm system. The threat for severe weather continues for the area this morning. Let’s get into the details, including that threat, a change to cooler weather, and another severe weather threat toward the end of the week.

ON THE WEATHER MAPS: Our surface low is located over western Tennessee and Kentucky early on this Sunday morning. It is being powered by an upper trough that extends from Minnesota down to Louisiana with an upper low over Missouri. The system has sped up overnight, with storms reaching I-65 between 3-4 a.m. They are being pursued closely by thunderstorms along the cold front that are moving through the I-65 corridor at press time of this report. They will be east of Birmingham by 8 a.m. and into Georgia before 10:30 a.m. The severe weather threat will be done when those storms pass your location.

FOR YOUR SUNDAY: Showers and storms continue to push eastward across Alabama early on this Sunday morning. They should be into western Georgia and out of Alabama by 11 a.m. or so. Skies will quickly clear from the west this morning as a dry slot moves across the area. But as moisture associated with the trough pushes into Alabama late this morning and early this afternoon, skies will become mostly cloudy once again. The cold front will be into West Alabama by late morning, and this will start temperatures on a slow fall through the afternoon. By noon, readings will drop into the 50s over West Alabama. Winds will die down briefly this morning, but they will increase again later this morning when the front arrives. Winds will slowly diminish late this afternoon. Lows tonight will drop into the lower 40s on average, with some 30s north of I-20. No widespread frost or freeze, but it will be chilly by morning.

THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday look dry as high pressure builds over the northern Gulf Coast and slides northeast into the Mid-Atlantic.

THURSDAY STORMS: By Thursday morning, a deep trough will lock into place across the Plains states. The surface low will be passing into northwestern Missouri. Showers and storms will be pushing through western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Those storms will be moving into Alabama during the afternoon as a secondary low forms over Mississippi and moves into Northwest Alabama. CAPE values will approach 1,500 joules/kg over West Alabama but should decrease as we move into the evening. Dewpoints will be in the lower 60s. Wind shear will be increasing, and there will be a severe weather threat once again over western sections, mainly south of I-59. Again, we may deal with a low-end tornado threat. Highs on Thursday will be in the 70s.
WEEKEND OUTLOOK: Skies will remain variably cloudy on Friday, with a chance of a few showers in the wraparound moisture from the low. Highs will struggle to get to 70F. Lows Friday night will drop into the 40s. Readings Saturday will definitely struggle to make 70F. Things will warm back to normal, which is in the upper 70s. It should be a beautiful weekend, albeit a bit cool.

GULF COAST WEATHER: Rain Thursday along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida, but that is the only less than perfect weather we expect this week. Highs will be in the upper 70s until next Saturday. Lows will range between the upper 40s Monday morning, with 50s and 60s the rest of the week. Water temperatures are in the lower 70s now.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain meteorologist Tim Heller, to talk about the state of television meteorology. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes. You can watch the show live at live.bigbrainsmedia.com You will be able to see the show on the James Spann 24×7 weather channel on cable or directly over the air on the dot 2 feed.

ON THIS DATE IN 1986: The world’s largest hailstone, weighing 2.25 pounds, fell in the Gopalganj area of Bangladesh Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS