Temps Stay Below Average

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COLD MORNING: March is just around the corner, but we are having a hard time warming up. Our Skywatcher at Broomtown (in Cherokee County) reports 16 degrees at 5:00; Fayette is at 18, and Coker at 21. Most official reporting stations are in the 20 to 25 degree range.

At least the sky is clear; we will enjoy a sunny sky today with a high in the mid to upper 40s. And, to the northeast, we will be watching the big storm over the upper Atlantic coast strengthen later today and tonight; that will bring potential for hurricane force wind gusts and lots of snow and rain. If you are trying to fly into New York City, you might forget about that until the weekend.

TOMORROW THROUGH THE WEEKEND: We stay dry. The next short wave, the one we named “Bertha” will pass well to the south of here late tomorrow night and Saturday morning. Each day will be partly sunny, and we are projecting a high in the low to mid 50s each afternoon. Keep in mind our average high this time of the year is 60. And, mornings will be cold with early morning lows below freezing.

NEXT WEEK/CLARENCE: The wave we have named Clarence will spin up a surface low in the Gulf of Mexico early next week. The GFS continues the idea that everything will be too far south to impact Alabama, but we know the GFS has not had a good track record this cold weather season. However, watch the Weather Xtreme video and you will see the ECMWF has shifted to the south as well, keeping the precipitation (in the form of rain) over the southern half of Alabama on Tuesday. It is still simply too early to make a decent call on this; we will have a little better clarity tomorrow. All we can do is sit back and wait and watch; the idea of a significant snow for parts of the Southeast U.S. is still on the table based on climatology. We will see.

DOLLY: And, out there in the land of voodoo, the wave we named “Dolly” still shows up in the March 8-9 time frame with some risk of heavy rain or strong to severe storms around here. With the AO flip coming, we will be making the transition from winter weather threats to severe weather threats by mid-March. But, at least we will finally enjoy some spring-like temperatures.

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Today we will be doing a special version of Storm Alert 2010 at Hudson Middle School in Birmingham… that kicks off at 1:00, but I should be able to have the afternoon edition of the Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30. Enjoy the day!

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