Warmer Days Ahead

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RIGHT NOW: One final lobe is rotating through the base of the big upper trough over the eastern third of the nation; the upward motion associated with that is squeezing out a few snow grains and sprinkles across Alabama, but the sky is clearing over West Alabama, and the clouds will be long gone by this evening statewide.

While our afternoon temperature forecast is working out fine for West Alabama, it is a bust for the eastern two-thirds of the state, where temperatures are only in the upper 30s (we had forecast mid 40s today). It is downright cold for March in Alabama, with Birmingham running about 25 degrees below our average highs for March 3 (we should be in the low to mid 60s this time of the year!).

WARMING TREND: Everything still looks good for the projected warm-up in the days ahead. Look for sunny days and clear nights through Sunday. We expect low 50s tomorrow, mid 50s Friday, mid 60s Saturday, and upper 60s Sunday. Somebody might even see 70 on their backyard thermometer Sunday afternoon.

NEXT WEEK: An intense low will develop over the Southern Plains Monday, and bring the threat of strong to severe storms to the ArkLaTex region Monday afternoon. The low should slowly fill/weaken as it moves to the east, but rain and a few storms seem likely for Alabama late Monday night into Tuesday. For now the projected dynamics and instability don’t suggest a major severe weather problem here, but that event is still a long way away. Drier air filters in behind the rain on Wednesday.

MID-MONTH: The GFS continues to advertise a mid-month cold snap, in the March 14-18 time frame, complete with a Gulf storm that could bring snow to parts of the Southeast U.S. This is all voodoo, of course, but certainly not out of the question. See the Weather Xtreme video for details.

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I had a great time today visiting with the kindergarten students at B.B. Comer Elementary in Sylacauga; be looking for them on the Pepsi KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News. The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

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