Dog Days

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This song was suggested by a reader (Kerry from Helena) this morning… it is by the Atlanta Rhythm Section from 1975:

“Paper fans in sweaty fans
Shooing flies away
Reflections on a porch
A shelter from the scorch
When dog days came around

Babies squalled
As August crawled
Past old folks in the shade
The weather vane was stuck
And white oak creek would drop
When dog days came around

The dog days were scorchers
Southern torture
But we found an
Answer to the plight
It was a dog day’s night”

I actually remember playing that song on WTBC in Tuscaloosa!

HEAT PARADE: Here are a few 2:00 observations around Alabama:

Montgomery 102
Tuscaloosa 101
Birmingham 100
Alexander City 99
Shelby County Airport (Calera) 98
Anniston 98

Looks like maximum temperatures today will be very close to those from yesterday. The only shower on radar over the northern two-thirds of the state is east of Tuskegee.

LOOKING AHEAD: You are tired of dealing with it, and we are tired of talking about it. But, hot weather will be story for a while. We do believe the temperatures will back off a few degrees over the weekend, but the 12Z GFS is coming in with 100 again by Monday of next week. It is waffling with the position and strength of the upper high. It will slowly ease to the west, but it will stay close enough to keep us very hot and mostly dry through early next week.

TROPICAL ACTION NEXT WEEK? The Canadian continues to develop a tropical system in the southeast Gulf of Mexico next week, and the GFS shows unsettled weather in the same area. If something does brew down there, mostly likely it won’t impact Alabama; it will move under the heat ridge to the Texas or Mexico coast, or be picked up by a developing upper trough over the east coast. We all know this is voodoo right now, but we will have to watch the region.

The GFS continue to hint at other tropical systems during the latter half of August; the 12Z run develops a system well to the east of the U.S. in the August 19-22 time frame.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather hosted by David Black and featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40.

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I enjoyed speaking to the Mississippi State University distance learning students this morning at their annual summer workshop in downtown Birmingham. I met a number of folks from all over the country, and saw several old friends on the MSU faculty. I hope our visitors don’t think it is this hot all the time here! Dr. Roy Spencer will be addressing the group tomorrow… scroll down for his latest research on climate change.

Look for the next Weather Xtreme video by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow… STAY COOL…

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