Unsettled for Holiday Weekend

| September 5, 2009 @ 7:50 am | 1 Reply

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The weather for Central Alabama is looking somewhat unsettled for the Labor Day weekend. Already this morning a large area of mostly light rain and a few slightly heavier showers were moving steadily across the area. Heavier showers were much farther south over Southwest Alabama and Southeast Mississippi. With the clouds and passing patches of light rain I don’t expect afternoon highs to get much above about 80 or so for most areas.

The overall culprits are a combination of a southwesterly flow aloft bringing a stead stream of upper moisture into our area plus the easterly surface flow which is bringing low level moisture from the Atlantic and Gulf. And since the upper air pattern will be changing only slowly with a trough in our vicinity for the next several days, it appears that we will remain unsettled.

Timing of showers or the patchy rain is going to be difficult for the next few days as you can see from the radar this morning. There is no strong weather feature to identify the exact timing of showers. As these small disturbances move through the overall troughiness over the Southeast, we can expect some passing showers or patches of light rain just about any time.

Toward mid-week we may dry out somewhat but I am reluctant to remove all mention of showers since we will be staying moist. By next weekend we see a strong short wave dropping into the US from Canada. So I guess the best thing to say is that my confidence in the forecast is not especially high this morning. I’m already in trouble with my wife since I told her last night that we wouldn’t be having rain this morning and a nice light shower is moving across Cheaha at this writing.

Tropics are relatively quiet considering this is the heart of our hurricane season. Erika is just a cloud mass without no real organization, but far out in the South Atlantic is another area of disturbed weather that could develop though conditions don’t seem too good for it right now.

The longer range outlook does not show any major change, though I did note that a ridge develops over the Gulf which could keep the traveling weather systems away from us for a good chunk of the middle of September. But that is a long way out and is likely to change before we get there.

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I hope you will have a chance to enjoy the last holiday of the summer season in spite of the unsettled weather. I expect to have the next Weather Xtreme Video posted here by 8 am Sunday morning. Godspeed.

-Brian-

For your meteorological consulting needs, Coleman and Peters, LLC, can provide you with accurate information on past hailstorms, lightning, flooding, and wind damage. We work primarily for people involved in insurance cases and for attorneys. Please call us at (205) 568-4401.

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About the Author ()

Brian Peters is one of the television meteorologists at ABC3340 in Birmingham and a retired NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist. He handles the weekend Weather Xtreme Videos and forecast discussion and is the Webmaster for the popular WeatherBrains podcast.

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