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Increasing Sunshine and Seasonally Cool Today; A Quiet Start to the Work Week

| January 3, 2021 @ 12:06 am

A parade of upper lows in a highly amplified pattern will be the interesting thing to watch over the next week in the Alabama Weather Department, but fairly quiet weather will prevail through midweek before some showers return on Thursday. Let’s see what’s going on…

A LOOK BACK AT SATURDAY: It was a day of variable cloudiness across North and Central Alabama yesterday. Clouds hung tough over the Southeast behind Friday’s front, which was still producing shower and storms across Florida and Georgia. Low clouds that had Mississippi completely socked in all day were encroaching on western Alabama as the upper low responsible for them was rotating to the north of our state. Meanwhile, some mid-level clouds moved across the middle of the state around noon in the southwesterly flow aloft that was still occurring across Alabama. Temperatures were in the 50s North and West with 60s Southeast. Overnight lows were in the 30s. A few light showers moved across North Alabama overnight.

FOR YOUR SUNDAY: The upper low will be moving away and our low and mid-level flow will become northwesterly, allowing cooler and drier air to filter into the state and pushing the deeper moisture that had been hanging on out of the way. It will be breezy early, and a few degrees cooler than yesterday. Highs will range from 48 over Northeast Alabama to near 50F in the North, to between 52-55F in the I-20 Corridor, to 52-55 in the Southeast. An upper-level disturbance will pass by overnight, but there will be no real impact on sensible weather across our state. Lows will be below freezing over the northern third of the state tonight, with other lows across the area ranging from 31F-35F. The normal high for January 3rd at Birmingham Is 53F and the normal low 34F, so these readings are about what you would expect for early January.

Temperatures forecast by the National Blend of Models over the next several days

MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY: The start of the first work week of the year will be dominated by a dry northwesterly flow that will result in calm weather with slightly higher than normal temperatures. Highs will be in the mid and upper 50s. Lows will be in the middle 30s to lower 40s.

NEXT WEATHERMAKER: By Wednesday, an amplifying upper trough will be moving out of the Rockies onto the Plains. It will close off into an upper low over Oklahoma and will move to Arkansas by Thursday morning. Showers should reach West Alabama by sunrise Thursday. There will be a chance of rain all day Thursday, but no thunder except over South Alabama. Some light rain will continue over North Alabama on Friday as the upper low tracks north of our state.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK: Expect improving conditions Saturday, but showers will return by late Sunday as another upper low cuts off over the ArkLaMiss. This system will be fairly lacking in moisture, however, so the best it will be able to manage for us will be a few showers.

VOODOO TERRITORY: Out toward the end of the forecast period, by Tuesday, January 13th, a surface low will be tracking through the Ohio Valley with a trailing cold front back our way. This will result in showers and storms for us, but they don’t look severe at this time.

BEACHCAST: It will be a beautiful week along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida until Thursday, when the same system that will bring us rain, will bring rain to the beaches. Highs will be in the 60s. Lows will be in the 40s mostly. Water temperatures are in the upper 50s. The rip current risk will be low the remainder of the week.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

DANCING WITH THE STATS: 3.17 inches of rain yesterday at Apalachicola. That was a record for the date.

ADVERTISE WITH US: We broke our own record this past year! Deliver your message to a highly engaged audience by advertising on the AlabamaWX.com website. The site enjoyed 20.3 MILLION page views in the past 12 months. Don’t miss out! We can customize a creative, flexible, and affordable package that will suit your organization’s needs. Contact me, Bill Murray, at (205) 687-0782 and let’s talk.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain the chairs of the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes. You can watch the show live at live.bigbrainsmedia.com or on James’ YouTube Channel 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 2008: Snow flurries were reported across the Florida Peninsula after an Arctic airmass moved into the area behind a strong cold front. Snow flurries were reported from Port Orange north to Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach. A hard freeze was reported all across northern and Central Florida. 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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