Wednesday Weather Xtreme: A Refreshing Start, the Dry and Warm Today

It is a very pleasant morning across North and Central Alabama by June standards. The cold front that pushed through much of the state yesterday and last night is vacationing along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida. In its wake, much drier air has invaded the northern half of the state. We are all benefitting from the dewpoints in the middle and upper 50s. The drier air has allowed the mercury to fall into the middle and upper 50s over North and North Central Alabama, with lower 60s further south. Skies are clear this morning, but a sky filled with fair-weather cumulus will soon adorn the Alabama landscape. Highs today will be warm, in the middle 80s.

HOW ABOUT THE REST OF THE WEEK: The front will try to come back north as a warm front on Thursday, bringing along all that Gulf moisture along with it. Would it be too much to ask it to bring five pounds of shrimp along for the ride? It is going to have a hard time though, as a battle will set up between it and the subtropical high parked along the East Coast. The high will keep the front mostly at bay through Thursday and Friday for us here in Central Alabama. The result should be mostly dry conditions both days, with just a small chance of an isolated afternoon or evening shower or storm.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK/WEEKEND FRONT: Another front will be approaching Alabama by Saturday and Sunday. This will help to ratchet up our shower and thunderstorm chances, especially by Sunday. It will be warm and humid, with highs in the middle and upper 80s. Lows will be around 70F. The weekend won’t be a washout, but you will be dealing with some splash and dash showers and storms.

THE NEW WEEK: The last week of June, first week of July will feature fairly typical summertime weather with scattered afternoon and evening showers and storms and fairly typical temperatures with highs in the upper 80s to near 90 and lows around 70F. I have a feeling we are going to be keeping an eye on the Gulf of Mexico that week though.

TROPICS: A great segue to talk about the tropics. The disturbance approaching the Windward Islands is running into more unfavorable conditions and will not become a tropical cyclone in the short run. But it will run into a better environment for development by next week. The GFS continues to advertise a tropical cyclone in the Gulf by midweek. It will be interesting to watch.

BEACHCAST: The front will keep showers and storms around along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida. Rain chances will diminish a bit by Thursday and Friday and into the weekend. Highs will head back toward the upper 80s with lows in the middle 70s. Water temperatures are moving toward the mid-80s as well.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel spoke with Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby. He really deserves to have a Ted Talk. His life is very inspiring. 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 1944: An outbreak of violent tornadoes across eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. Thirty people were killed in Shinnston WV, which was leveled. A total of 154 people were killed and 966 were injured. The tornadoes defied previous meteorological thought by crossing mountainous terrain. A family of tornadoes killed thirty people along an 85-mile path from near Wellsburg, WV to near Uniontown, Maryland. As many as four violent tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously during the evening hours. The most devastating tornado of the evening was an F4 monster that carved a sixty-mile path from near Pine Grove to near Alpena. One hundred people died in this tornado, including thirty at Shinnston. Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS