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More Records to Fall This Week; Cool Down Starts Next Weekend

| September 29, 2019 @ 6:30 am

Record highs will be falling over the next five days and another category five hurricane is on the board in the Atlantic. Throw in a cool-down late in the week, and we have some interesting things to talk about. Let’s hit it…

SATURDAY HIGHS: Central Alabama highs on Saturday included 95F at Birmingham (record: previous record 94F), 97F at Montgomery (record: previous record 96F), 95F at Calera, and 94F at Anniston.

THE RECORDS WILL KEEP ON COMING: A strong ridge of high pressure in the middle and upper atmosphere will continue across the eastern United States into midweek. With 500 millibar heights reaching 597 dkm this week, the heat will be raging. Highs will continue in the middle 90s through next Thursday and possibly Friday. The temperatures will threaten to tie or break record highs each day. Birmingham record temps include 96F today, 95F Monday, 94F on Tuesday, 93F on Wednesday and 93F on Thursday.

ALL-TIME OCTOBER RECORDS MAY FALL AS WELL: The all-time record October high at Birmingham is 94F. That may be surpassed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

RAIN CHANCES: Isolated storms could appear today and Tuesday, but the chances are fairly small the rest of the time until Thursday. By then, the ridge will be weakening, and a frontal system will be approaching Alabama from the northwest. There is substantial uncertainty regarding the timing, with the GFS pushing the front through early Friday, and the European waiting until Sunday. Highs should fall back into the upper 80s and lows in the lower and middle 60s behind the front.

DROUGHTWATCH: Over 80 percent of Alabama is now in at least the abnormally dry state according to the U.S. Drought Monitor Much of Shelby and Chilton Counties are in Severe or Extreme Drought.

ANY HOPE? Not according to the GFS. Less than three-quarters of an inch of rain is expected across Central Alabama. The extended European is showing 2 inches for much of Central Alabama through the end of October, with most of that coming in the last two weeks and another 2 inches
RESERVOIR LEVELS: Reservoir levels are dropping across the state, but are not at critical levels yet. But according to a Birmingham Water Works spokesperson, if we don’t get rain in four weeks, it could be a different story.

GULF COAST WEATHER: Hot is the word at the beach, with highs in the lower 90s and lows in the middle 70s. Rain chances will be low. Waves will be running 1-2 feet all week and the rip current risk will be low. Water temperatures are running 85F

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain Dr, Patrick Marsh from the Storm Prediction Center. 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 1915: Issac Cline of 1900 Galveston Hurricane fame was the Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau Forecast Center for the Gulf Coast in New Orleans LA. Cline knew that major hurricane was moving across the Gulf of Mexico. His hurricane observation stations on Swan Island and in Cuba had warned that a strong hurricane was forming in the Caribbean and moving into the Gulf through the Yucatan Channel. BY the morning of the 29th, Cline predicted that the hurricane was going to strike the coast south of New Orleans, spreading a dangerous storm surge along the coast east of where the storm center was going to make landfall. Warnings were disseminated to the public in the areas south of New Orleans. Cline’s predictions were correct as the hurricane passed over Batatraia Bay during the early afternoon hours and moved northward over New Orleans. The town of Leeville on the Louisiana coast was destroyed, with all but one of the town’s buildings destroyed. A hurricane in 1893 had killed 2000 people in the same area, but because of the warnings, only 275 people died in the 1915 hurricane. Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS

About the Author ()

Bill Murray is the President of The Weather Factory. He is the site's official weather historian and a weekend forecaster. He also anchors the site's severe weather coverage. Bill Murray is the proud holder of National Weather Association Digital Seal #0001 @wxhistorian

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