Just A Few Isolated Storms Through Sunday; Still Hot
STILL HOT: Alabama’s weather won’t change much through the weekend as the hot August weather continues. We expect partly to mostly sunny days, fair nights, and a handful of isolated afternoon and evening showers and storms through Sunday. Chance of any one location seeing rain daily is around 20 percent, and most of the storms will come from about 2 until 9 p.m. Highs will hold in the mid to upper 90s, with potential for 100 degree heat in a broad zone from Tuscaloosa to Mobile. Heat indices will exceed 100 degrees.
NEXT WEEK: Heat levels fall, and scattered showers and thunderstorms become more numerous Monday and Tuesday with the approach of a surface front. Highs drop into the 80s over the northern half of the state, and low 90s over South Alabama. A drier, continental airmass is expected to push into the state over the latter half of the week with lower humidity and cooler nights… many spots across North/Central Alabama are expected to reach the 50s by Thursday and Friday morning for a nice “fall feel”. See the video briefing for maps, graphics, and more details.
TROPICS: A broad area of low pressure over the northwestern Caribbean Sea near the northeastern coast of Honduras is producing disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity. Environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development of this system during the next several days, and a tropical depression is likely to form late this weekend or early next week while moving generally northward over the northwestern Caribbean Sea and eastern Gulf of Mexico. Interests in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, western Cuba, and Florida should monitor the progress of this system. NHC gives the system a 70 percent chance of development.
If a depression or storm develops, global models suggest it will move over the northern Florida peninsula at mid-week; this track will keep Alabama on the dry side of the system, with the main impact to the southeast. We will have much better clarity once the system gets a well defined low level center in a day or two.
Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Franklin is about 690 miles south/southwest of Bermuda with winds of 60 mph. It is expected to become a hurricane over the weekend… it will pass west of Bermuda, and will remain well east of the U.S.
Other areas of interest across the Atlantic are expected to stay far from land.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the first week of high school football, tonight will be a very warm, humid night across Alabama. An isolated storm can’t be totally ruled out, otherwise the sky will be mostly fair with temperatures falling through the 80s during the games.
Tomorrow, Jacksonville State hosts the University of Texas at El Paso (4:30p CT kickoff) at Burgess-Snow Field; the weather will be very hot with an outside risk of a brief shower or storm during the game. Expect a kickoff temperature near 96 degrees, falling into the upper 80s by the final whistle.
ON THIS DATE IN 1814: In the early afternoon, a strong tornado struck northwest Washington D.C. and downtown. The severe tornadic storm arrived the day after the British Troops had set fire to the Capitol, the White House, and other public buildings. The storm’s rains would douse those flames. The tornado did major structural damage to the residential section of the city. The tornado’s flying debris killed more British soldiers than by the guns of the American resistance.
ON THIS DATE IN 2017: Hurricane Harvey made landfall on San Jose Island, Texas, as a Category 4 storm. It is tied with 2005’s Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion (2017 USD) in damage, primarily from catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas; this made the storm the costliest natural disaster recorded in Texas at the time. It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at the intensity of a major hurricane throughout the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding.
Look for the next video briefing here by 3:00 this afternoon… enjoy the day!
Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Weather Xtreme Videos
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James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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