Midday Nowcast: Sunshine in Full Supply Today, but Rain Returns this Weekend

Greetings from the beautiful, sugar white sand beaches of Gulf Shores along the Alabama Gulf Coast. It is a gorgeous day along the northern Gulf of Mexico with not a cloud in the sky. The waters are much calmer with the lighter winds, but yesterday, double red flag were flying, meaning the Gulf waters were closed due to dangerous rip currents. However, as I was writing this forecast, the flags were changed to yellow, meaning use extreme caution as rip currents are present. Not that I plan on getting in the water anyways, current water temperature is in the lower 60s…no thank you!!! I’ll wait a few more months and let it get into the 80s.

Now for you all back in the landlocked portions of the state, the weather today is great. Today is featuring sunshine in full supply, with afternoon highs in the mid to upper 50s, which is about ten degrees below average to this time of year. Tonight will feature chilly temperatures with mid and upper 30s. Tomorrow will be warmer with a mix of sun and clouds with highs in the upper 60s and low 70s.

BIRMINGHAM ALMANAC: For March 6th, the average high for Birmingham is 64° and the average low is 43°. The record high is 83° set in 1974, while the record low is 18° set in 2015. We average 0.20” of precipitation on this date and the record value is 4.03” set in 1996.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Clouds return tomorrow night and the weekend forecast will be unsettled and wet at times with occasional periods of rain. A few showers are possible tomorrow night and through the day on Saturday, but it looks like the more widespread rain will arrive Saturday evening and night, lasting into Sunday morning. Rain amounts will be in the one-half to one inch range, and for most of Alabama this is just a rain event.

However, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued a a low end “marginal risk” of severe thunderstorms for the southwest corner of Alabama Saturday afternoon/night. A few storms down that way could produce some gusty winds. Highs this weekend will be in the upper 60s and lower 70s on Saturday, followed by upper 50s and lower 60s on Sunday.

SPRING FORWARD: Daylight Saving Time returns this weekend as we spring forward. We lose an hour of sleep as the clocks will be moved forward one hour overnight Saturday. Sunset time Saturday evening in Birmingham will be at 5:49PM CST, but on Sunday evening it will be 6:50PM CDT. It is a great time to check those smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and weather radios are working and have fresh batteries in them.

NEXT WEEK: Most of next week looks dry, however, a few showers are possible late Wednesday night or Thursday, but it doesn’t look like a big rain event. Temperatures rise into the 70s during the week as we inch closer to spring. By the end of next week, another potent storm system will move through the Deep South, and this could bring our next threat of severe weather, but it is way too early to even worry about that system yet, just something we will keep an eye on over the next week.

DROUGHT MONITOR: Dry conditions are expanding across the state again, with now 61.72% of the state Abnormally Dry, which has increased from 47.91% of the state last week. Moderate drought is up to 6.58% of the state, up from 5.52% last week. Moderate drought is impacting much of Blount and surrounding counties and also much of Marengo and surrounding counties. March is statistically our wettest month of the year across much of Alabama, we need some decent rain events to alleviate these conditions, and thankfully rain is in the forecast.

WORLD TEMPERATURE EXTREMES: Over the last 24 hours, the highest observation outside the U.S. was 126.7F at Qairoon Hairiti, Oman. The lowest observation was -84.5F at Vostok, Antarctica.

CONTIGUOUS TEMPERATURE EXTREMES: Over the last 24 hours, the highest observation was 89F at Atlantis, FL. The lowest observation was -10F at Forest Center, MN.

Tags: ANC, clear, featured, mild, sunny

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Social Media