Wet At Times Through Tomorrow; Not Much Sun
UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES: Large areas of rain are moving through Central Alabama early this morning… we also note rain falling over the southern half of Mobile and Baldwin counties around daybreak. The weather won’t change much across Alabama through tomorrow… generally cloudy conditions with periods of rain and some thunder. On the positive side, we don’t expect any flooding issues or severe storms. And, heat levels remain well below average for August in Alabama with highs around 80 today, followed by low 80s tomorrow.
THURSDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND: We will still mention scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms Thursday, but showers should begin to thin out by Friday and the weekend as the air becomes more stable. The chance of any one spot seeing rain Thursday is 55-65 percent, then dropping to near 30 percent Friday through Sunday. For the weekend the sky will be partly sunny, and most of the scattered showers and storms will come from around noon to midnight. As always in summer, no way of knowing in advance exactly when and where the showers pop up in advance… if you have something planned outdoors you simply have to watch radar trends. The high Thursday will be in the 82-85 degree range, followed by upper 80s Friday through Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: We will keep the classic summer forecast going for the first half of the week with partly sunny days and “scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms”; there is some evidence drier air could push into the state late in the week as September arrives, but that is ten days out and confidence is low. See the daily Weather Briefing video for maps, graphics, and more details.
TROPICS: Shower activity has diminished somewhat associated with a weak tropical wave located several hundred miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands. Environmental conditions appear only marginally conducive for gradual development during the next several days while the system moves westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph across the tropical Atlantic. NHC gives it only a 20 percent chance of development over the next five days. The rest of the Atlantic basin, including the Gulf of Mexico, remains very quiet.
Another tropical wave will emerge off the coast of Africa in 6-10 days; global models suggest this one will have a higher chance of development.
ON THIS DATE IN 1933: A hurricane made landfall near Nags Head, North Carolina and tracked up the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane moved over Norfolk, Virginia, and Washington, DC. A seven-foot tide flooded businesses in Norfolk, Virginia. Described in the American Meteorological Society’s August 1933 weather review as “one of the most severe storms that have ever visited the Middle Atlantic Coast.”
ON THIS DATE IN 1992: While South Florida residents were preparing for Hurricane Andrew, folks in western Montana were dealing with early season snowfall. Some snowfall amounts include 8.3” in Great Falls, 6.2” in Helena, and 5.1” in Cut Bank. This snowfall is the first significant snowfall on record in western Montana in August.
ON THIS DATE IN 2005: Hurricane Katrina formed from Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas. Katrina would become the costliest ($81.2 billion) and one of the most deadly hurricanes (1,836 lives) in U.S. history.
BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.
Look for the next Weather Briefing video here by 3:00 this afternoon… enjoy the day!
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