Rain Returns By Friday

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HOT FOR MAY: Temperatures again today are mostly in the 87-91 degree range across the stat at mid-afternoon with a good supply of hazy sunshine. The upper ridge is keeping us dry, but to the west active convection continues to break out in a broad band from North Texas to the Upper Midwest. A nasty bow echo moved through the Dallas/Fort Worth area within the hour; our WeatherBrains associate Kevin Selle reported winds in the 65 mph range as they storms moved through.

TOMORROW/FRIDAY: The upper ridge begins to break down tomorrow as the trough our west lifts out, but it still looks like most of the day will be dry around here with a high in the upper 80s. Then, Friday, showers and storms will likely arrive by the afternoon and evening hours as the surface front moves into our state.

It still looks like the chance of severe weather, at least on an organized basis, will be very low here in Alabama. SPC has a “slight” risk of severe weather up for Friday for the far northwest corner of the state, and then back across much Mississippi and West Tennessee. While we might see a strong storm or two on Friday, the main risk would be from hail and gusty winds; watch the Weather Xtreme video and you will see that basically there is no 0-1 km storm relative helicity, meaning little if any tornado threat.

OUR WEEKEND: A complex upper low will impact Alabama over the weekend and into Monday. The 12Z GFS paints a “double barrel” type low structure; the first segment will be overhead Saturday, and accordingly we will have to maintain a chance of showers, and maybe even a thunderstorm. Again, this is not a wash-out, but if you have something outdoors planned Saturday just be aware that you will have to dodge rain drops from time to time.

Sunday, the first chuck of the ULL is east of the state, and much of this day could very well be dry. Still, however, we will mention at least a chance of a shower or two. The weather will be cooler over the weekend with highs back in the 70s.

NEXT WEEK: The second part of the ULL moves right over us Monday, so the day should be cool and generally cloudy with a chance of showers; there is a decent chance we won’t make it to 70 with the cold pool overhead. Then, the rest of the week looks dry with a day to day warming trend.

And, the good news in the longer range still no major severe weather threat shows up through the end of May. This, of course, is voodoo for now. But, the trend sure looks good.

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I had a great time today visiting with the residents of Oaks at Parkwood retirement community, and then the 4th graders at Gate City Elementary in Birmingham. But looking for those kids on the Pepsi KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News! Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

Tags: hot

Category: Alabama's Weather