Foggy Again – Mild Conditions Continue

The Saturday edition of the Weather Xtreme Video is available on the player below, and on iTunes:

It’s foggy once again across Central Alabama but the fog is not quite as widespread as it has been for the last several days. However, in places like Gadsden the fog is very thick and does blanket a large area so the dense fog advisory looks well warranted. And it’s a bit nippy with temperatures generally running in the mid and upper 30s. However as the fog dissipates and the sunshine peeks through we should see afternoon highs climb into the lower 70s – a good 10 to 14 degrees above seasonal values for this time of year. And there does not appear to be any seriously cold weather in the near future for Central Alabama.

Today is the sixth anniversary of the Tuscaloosa F4 tornadoe. Please scroll down to see Bill Murray’s discussion of the Tuscaloosa tornado. It was one of the strongest tornadoes to ever occur this late in the Fall tornado season, killing 11 people and injuring many others. I was not on duty at the NWS that day, but I did work on Sunday to do the necessary tornado survey. James Spann asked me to be live with him on the late news from the tornado scene, and I almost froze to death waiting for the interview to occur with the extremely cold air that followed the severe weather.

No freezing weather in the forecast for the near future. Looks like mild weather should continue into next week. An upper level ridge maintains itself over the Southeastern US through Thursday as the overall pattern becomes somewhat split with a strong westerly flow across Canada and a low cutoff over the Southwest US and Northern Mexico. A trough developing on the east coast Tuesday could bring a weak front into the area late Tuesday and Bill’s forecast includes a small chance of rain. However, the moisture is limited so it’s looking less favorable for rain then.

By Friday the upper ridge is pushed off into the Atlantic as the Northern Mexico trough kicks out – mostly. The bulk of it kicks out but another trough develops right behind the one kicking out. The one kicking out could bring some pretty good rain chances to Central Alabama on Friday, possibly lingering over into Saturday. But still temperatures remain on the mild side as we trend back toward seasonally typical values.

And it’s looking like the Gulf coast will remain wet into Christmas eve and Christmas day but we’ll dry out. Again it will seem much cooler as we get back to temperatures more typical for this time of year.

Looking way ahead to New Years Eve, the GFS continues to maintain the split flow pattern. With the split flow comes a weak ridge that should keep us dry for New Years Eve. Temperatures should be colder but nothing extreme is noted.

In the video I also include a couple of graphics about the strengthening El Nino. Dr. William Gray credited the stronger than expected and earlier El Nino with helping to dampen the intensity of the hurricane season in the Atlantic. And it could help to keep conditions somewhat milder across a large portion of the United States.

I appreciate you tuning in to read the Blog and watch the video. I hope that you have a great weekend. I’ll be filling in for John Oldshue this weekend so you can catch the weather this evening at 6 and 10. I’ll have another Weather Xtreme Video posted around 8:00 am tomorrow morning. God bless.

-Brian-

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