Wet Weather Returns Late In The Weekend

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

WARM AFTERNOONS: Our weather will stay dry today and tomorrow, with a good supply of sunshine each day and a high at or just over 80 in most locations. But, by Sunday, moisture levels will begin to increase, and we will introduce the chance of a shower in scattered spots Sunday afternoon. Showers and storms will become more likely Sunday night as a short wave approaches from the west.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: Another rain-free forecast. For the high school games tonight, the sky will be clear, with temperatures falling from the mid 70s at kickoff into the low 60s by the fourth quarter.

Auburn hosts LSU in a huge SEC battle tomorrow at Jordan-Hare Stadium (2:30 p.m. kickoff)… the sky will be partly sunny with a kickoff temperature near 80 degrees, falling into the low 70s by the final whistle. Alabama heads to Knoxville to play the Tennessee Volunteers (6:00 p.m. kickoff); expect a fair sky with temperatures around 70 at kickoff, falling to the upper 50s by the fourth quarter. The UAB Blazers are also on the road; they will be in Starkville visiting the 24th ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs tomorrow evening at 6:00. The sky should be mostly fair, with temperatures falling from the low 80s at kickoff to near 70 by the end of the game.

NEXT WEEK: Monday still looks relatively wet, with occasional showers and thunderstorms statewide. The latest GFS operational run hints at rain amounts between 1/2 and 1 inch. The short wave moves to the east Monday night, but a surface front will stall out just north of here, and we remain in a moist airmass through mid-week. We will mention a chance of scattered showers Tuesday and Wednesday. We will continue to mention an increase in showers and thunderstorms on Thursday with an upper trough approaching, but watch the Weather Xtreme video and you will see the 00Z GFS has backed off on the strength of that feature. Drier air follows on Friday, but the amount of cold air will be determined by the strength of that trough.

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND: All model madness for now, with low confidence in a specific solution. This is actually common in active weather patterns, and it is why we call any forecast beyond seven days out there in “voodoo land”. Again, watch the video and you will see the latest GFS (00Z) now shows Saturday (October 30) as a warm and rather humid day, which is a huge contrast to previous runs this week that looked dry and very chilly. And, the 00Z GFS now brings in a big rain event on Sunday October 31. But, this could (and probably will) change. This is race weekend at Talladega and needless to say, huge interest in the weather for October 30-31. We will have much better clarity early next week. For now we will go with the drier and colder solution.

TROPICAL UPDATE: Tropical Storm Richard has been drifting south over the past 24 hours, and modeling has been adjusting to the south as well. The NHC track has Richard making landfall as a category one hurricane over Belize, or the Yucatan coast, late this weekend. The system weakens over land, and emerges over the Bay of Campeche Monday. From there, it could drift west (if the troughs embedded in the mid-latitude westerlies bypass the system) toward the main Mexican coast, or it could be influenced by one of the troughs and be pulled northeast. One way or another we won’t expect this to be a problem for the Central Gulf Coast, but it is very early in the game and we will keep an eye on the system. We do need to remember there is still plenty of latent heat energy in the Gulf of Mexico.

Other tropical waves are scattered across the Atlantic, and one in the East Atlantic south of the Cape Verde islands has some chance of slow development in coming days.

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.

FOLLOW ALONG: Here are our weather team Twitter accounts….

I will be doing a weather program this morning at Floyd Elementary in Gadsden… look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon. Enjoy the day!

Category: Uncategorized