Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

Hot and Muggy for April

| April 9, 2011 @ 8:18 am | 2 Replies

* * * Note, no Weather Xtreme Video this morning due to my work at the Honda Indy Grand Prix * * *

If you step outside this morning, you will definitely think it is June or July with the warm and muggy conditions currently across Central Alabama. Temperatures at 8 am were running around 70 degrees at most locations with humidity values running in the 90 to 100 percent range. With a large ridge pattern in place across the eastern half of the country, the forecast for hot weather continues to Monday when the next system will break down the ridge and allow for a strong trough to come across the northern US and bring a front through the Southeast US.

For today, with low level humidity and lots of sunshine to heat the atmosphere, we could see isolated thunderstorms in Central Alabama, but the greater risk of storms is north through east of the area. In fact, the SPC has a slight risk area in the area of South Carolina across North Georgia to Southeast Illinois for today and tonight. The main severe weather threat will be hail as the thunderstorms become rooted to the surface layer. Storms in this region will be moving southeast on the east side of the ridge.

Also with the morning clouds breaking early look for a good deal of sun. This could heat things up to near record values since the record high for today is 87.

The ridge remains the primary feature for Sunday which could be another hot day. Monday a strong trough should bring a front into and through the Southeast US. For Central Alabama, the main window for storms will come Monday afternoon into early Tuesday morning. That trough moves quickly out of the area as it is replaced with another short term ridge. Things begin to change on Thursday as a new trough develops in the Central US and digs into the South Central US. This sets us up for another round of storms on Friday. This system has some interesting looks to it including a positively tilted trough, so severe weather could be an issue. SPC has maintained a “too low” indication because of model differences, but this could be one to keep our eyes on.

By Sunday a week we begin to come under the western ridge which should bring another welcome cool down to the Southeast US as a northwesterly flow pattern sets up to provide us with a wonderful weekend.

The flow goes zonal as we head into voodoo country until another strong trough comes out of the Rockies on Thursday, the 21st of April. This promises at least a day of stormy weather followed by another cool down with a broad trough on the East Coast of the US.

And you can follow news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. Stay in the know by following the whole gang – here’s the list…

James Spann Jason Simpson Ashley Brand
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Godspeed.

-Brian-

For your meteorological consulting needs, Coleman and Peters, LLC, can provide you with accurate, detailed information on past storms, lightning, flooding, and wind damage. Whether it is an insurance claim needing validation or a court case where weather was a factor, we can furnish you with information you need. Please call us at (205) 568-4401.

Category: Alabama's Weather

About the Author ()

Brian Peters is one of the television meteorologists at ABC3340 in Birmingham and a retired NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist. He handles the weekend Weather Xtreme Videos and forecast discussion and is the Webmaster for the popular WeatherBrains podcast.

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