Some Rain Tomorrow; Brighter Sunday

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ON THE MAPS: Short wave energy is over Texas, and is moving our way. This will spin up a relatively weak surface low in the Gulf of Mexico, which will spread rain across parts of Alabama late tonight and tomorrow.

Watch the Weather Xtreme video and you will see the 12Z models are slightly more aggressive with rain up to the I-20 corridor tomorrow, and we also watch with some nervousness the freeze line at 850 mb (about 5,000 feet off the ground), which can be a decent rain-snow line. That line is somewhere around U.S. 278, just a little north of the precipitation shield.

Bottom line is that we won’t really change the forecast for now… we will mention some light rain tomorrow, especially during the morning hours, with the best chance along and south of I-20. We can’t rule out a few snow flakes or flurries over the northern third of the state, but anything there should be very light. The high tomorrow will be in the mid 40s.

SUNDAY/MONDAY: These will be might brighter days with ample sunshine and a warming trend. The high Sunday will be close to 50, followed by mid to upper 50s Monday.

REST OF NEXT WEEK: Sure looks pretty mild Tuesday through Friday. The GFS is now suggesting we rise into the low 60s most days. A few showers are possible Tuesday, and the idea of colder air dropping in here Wednesday is off the table for now.

CHRISTMAS: Watch the Weather Xtreme video… we are still looking at colder air moving into Alabama just in time for Christmas Day. The 12Z GFS shows rain Friday night into Christmas morning, with some potential for snow flurries on the back side of the departing system in the colder air. This will change… but an interesting idea.

LONG RANGE: As the NAO trends neutral, the chance of major Arctic invasions will diminish as we move into 2011. I sure get the idea January will not be as cold as December, but that is just an idea. The NAO could roar back into negative range later… winter isn’t even here yet, you know. The winter solstice is next Tuesday (Dec 21) at 5:38 p.m. CST.

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Had a great time at this morning’s annual Rick and Bubba year ender… it was another classic. My next Weather Xtreme video will be posted here by 7:00 a.m. Monday… Brian Peters will have the videos tomorrow and Sunday. Enjoy the weekend!

Tags: rain, weekend

Category: Alabama's Weather