Active Storms For Alabama Today

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STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS: Parts of the Tennessee Valley region of extreme North Alabama are already under a severe thunderstorm watch this morning; that watch includes Jackson, Lauderdale, Limestone, and Madison Counties until 12 noon.
An MCS is moving through southern Middle Tennessee, and a number of severe thunderstorm warnings are in effect for the Chattanooga area as I write this around 5:30 a.m.

Another batch of strong to severe storms is over North Arkansas, and those are the ones that we will wind up dealing with later today. SPC maintains a slight risk of severe storms for much of Alabama north of U.S. 84, and the main risk will be from damaging straight line winds and hail. On the positive side, rain amounts of 1/2 to 1 inch are likely, with isolated totals nearing two inches.

The primary risk of severe storms will come this afternoon and early tonight, but that initial mass of storms could bring a few severe weather issues to the Tennessee Valley this morning as it rolls southeast.

We will keep a close eye on developing storms today and keep you posted.

REST OF THE WEEK: The surface boundary triggering the storms today should move down into South Alabama tomorrow, with drier air entering the northern half of the state. At this point the weather looks mostly dry and hot over the latter half of the week with sunny days and fair nights. Most of you know I am uncomfortable leaving the chance of an afternoon storm out of the forecast on any summer day, but the dry air means the chance of any one spot getting wet is so small that we won’t mention it in the forecast. Highs will be in the mid 90s, but the lower humidity values will make the heat a little more tolerable.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND: Hard to believe the Fourth of July weekend is here as the summer of 2011 races along. If we have storms Saturday and Sunday, it looks like they will be widely spaced with highs remaining well up in the 90s. Scattered showers and storms will be a little more numerous by Monday as the upper ridge weakens a bit. Needless to say, there is no skill in trying to identify specific placement and coverage of storms this far in advance, but overall this kind of weather is very routine for mid-summer in Alabama.

AT THE BEACH: Today will feature about 7 to 9 hours of sun along the Central Gulf Coast with only widely scattered storms. It does look like showers and storms will increase in number tomorrow with that surface front approaching from the north, but Thursday through the holiday weekend will feature very uneventful summer weather, with a decent amount of sun on a daily basis with some risk of a few scattered showers and storms along the way. Highs will be close to 90 along the immediate coast, with mid 90s inland. The sea water temperature at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab this morning is 87 degrees.

TROPICAL ACTION: A broad low over the eastern Bay of Campeche, in the far Southwest Gulf of Mexico, has a chance to develop slowly in coming days. Most models bring this low into the Mexican coast well south of the mouth of the Rio Grande in about 48 hours. Some chance this becomes Tropical Storm Arlene, but many of the dynamic models keep it as a tropical depression. This will bring heavy rain to parts of North Mexico, and won’t impact our weather in any way. The rest of the Atlantic basin is relatively quiet.

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Unless the weather gets out of hand, we are scheduled to be over at the Talladega Superspeedway today; I will be there with most of our group. I hope J.B. Elliott gets a chance to ride around the track at a high rate of speed; we will post pictures later today. Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 or so this afternoon… enjoy the day!

Category: Alabama's Weather