Morning Sun; Afternoon Storms

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HOT MUGGY WEATHER ROLLS ALONG: Slow moving storms produced some big time rain totals in scattered pockets across the state yesterday. About 3 inches of rain were measured at our SKYCAM site in downtown Tuscaloosa last night between 9:30 and 11:00… flash flooding was pretty severe and a number of roads were closed for a while. The lightning was almost continuous, and power was out for several thousand people.

The overall synoptic pattern won’t change much today; we have a copious amount of moisture available in the atmosphere, and the upper ridge isn’t strong enough to completely cap off the atmosphere, so we expect another day of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms in scattered spots. Other than that, the day will be hot and humid with a high in the low to mid 90s.

Where the storms do form, they won’t move much, and some neighborhoods will see heavy amounts of rain. And, be very careful with the lightning. Storms on a hot summer afternoon in Alabama can produce hundreds of ground strokes, and we have had one death and a number of injuries in recent days in our state due to lightning. One person was injured yesterday up in Limestone County near Athens.

REST OF THE WEEK: The heat ridge will be a little stronger tomorrow, so the heat might inch up a few degrees with fewer showers and storms. But, with the better top soil moisture from recent rain the heat shouldn’t get out of hand.

The heat ridge moves west Thursday and Friday, and an upper trough moves over the Atlantic coast. The GFS continues to hint at the idea of a surface front actually bringing in drier air to Alabama by the end of the week. We will begin to lean in that direction for Friday and Saturday. No cool air, however… in fact the dry air will heat effectively, with potential for upper 90s on these two days. But, the dewpoints will be lower, so the heat index won’t be much of a factor.

SUNDAY AND BEYOND: Moist air begins to return Sunday with a slow increase in the number of scattered showers and storms, and for now we don’t see any reason to depart from the standard summer forecast for much of next week. We can’t identify day to day changes far in advance in summer since those changes are very subtle, and on the mesoscale level.

TROPICS: Very calm across the Atlantic basin this morning. You figure things will break loose out there in a couple of weeks, so let’s enjoy the quiet while we have it.

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 featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We will record this week’s show tonight at 8:30 p.m. CDT… Bernie Rayno of AccuWeather will be our guest.

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I will be doing a weather program this morning for the kids at the Trussville YMCA… then it is on to Pell City where I will speak to the Rotary Club at midday. Back in the office by early afternoon, and the next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 3:30 this afternoon. Enjoy the day!

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