A Warmer Day

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OVERNIGHT WARM-UP: As expected, temperatures have been rising overnight. Our SKYCAM site at Demopolis is showing 59 degrees at 5:00… Tuscaloosa is at 55, and Birmingham is reporting 54. Even up in Gadsden, where it takes longer to get rid of the cold air, they are well above freezing… the SKYCAM site overlooking the city is at 37 degrees at 5:00 and rising. No ice issues today.

It is interesting to note the observation from Vic Bell, our Skywatcher atop Lookout Mountain in DeKalb County near Collinsville. He went above freezing at 3:00 this morning, ending a period of 96 consecutive hours with temperatures below 32 degrees. That is really an amazing cold wave for so early in the season.

TODAY/TOMORROW: We will rise up to near 60 today, with low to mid 60s for West-Central Alabama. The sky will remain cloudy, and a few periods of rain are likely. But, don’t get used to the warmer weather as the surface front will reverse course again and drop southward tonight. We will be close to freezing early tomorrow, and it now looks like the high tomorrow will be only in the mid 40s. We might see a little light rain or drizzle tomorrow, but precipitation will be very light and spotty.

OUR WEEKEND: Interesting how most of the models have totally backed off on the idea of a significant Gulf low tomorrow night into Saturday. The NAM still shows this feature, but it is weaker and positioned more to the south. Accordingly, the chance of any really significant rain (or snow for that matter) has diminished across North-Central Alabama on Saturday. The best chance of rain will be over the southern half of the state, with hardly any rain for the northern third. Still, we will keep an eye as the weekend gets closer. Sunday will be mostly sunny and cool; without the well developed low to the northeast, it won’t be as cold as we first thought with a high closer to 50.

CHRISTMAS WEEK: The weather looks generally benign next week. Dry Monday with a high in the 50s… then some risk of a little rain Tuesday with a disturbance passing through. Wednesday and Thursday will be dry and cool, and the pattern still looks cold and mostly dry for Christmas. See the Weather Xtreme video for details. Interesting to note the 06Z shows a major severe weather threat for Alabama and the Deep South New Year’s Eve, but that is total voodoo and will most likely vanish on the next run.

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Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon…. enjoy the day!

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