Rain Returns Tomorrow

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Clouds will return rather quickly to Alabama tonight in advance of a short wave over Texas that shows up nicely on water vapor images this afternoon. This promises to bring periods of rain to Alabama tomorrow; about the only question is the precipitation type early tomorrow morning.

Birmingham’s dewpoint at 2:00 is only 6 degrees, which means we will probably have some evaporational cooling going on as the rain begins. This could bring surface temperatures down to 32 degrees or below late tonight and early tomorrow, and some light freezing rain is not out of the question. Also, with this kind of dry air some sleet is certainly possible.

So, if you get up early tomorrow to drive into work, and notice rain falling, just understand a little bridge icing is possible. Temperatures will warm into the 40s by afternoon, and major icing problems are not expected. Just be careful out there tomorrow morning, just in case.

Rain totals tomorrow should be around one-quarter of an inch, maybe up to one-half inch in isolated spots.

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY: Sunshine returns on Wednesday as drier air works into the state, and then a dry cold front will blow through here late Wednesday night. A new surge of very cold air follows that front on Thursday, and we will have a hard time getting out of the 30s with a very brisk north wind. Then, a hard freeze is likely by Friday morning with temperatures in the low 20s.

WEEKEND PREVIEW: A warm front moving northward will bring periods of rain on Saturday and Sunday along with a warming trend. Looks like we have a good chance of reaching the 60s on Sunday, and the most widespread rain over the weekend should be over the northern half of the state. The 12Z run of the GFS shows the rain lingering into Monday of next week, with perhaps some thunderstorms involved as the air becomes more unstable.

LONG RANGE: The 12Z GFS continues to show a significant storm around Feb 2-3, which some snow potential for parts of the Deep South. No need to get excited here since we are dealing with events in voodoo land, but there is some good consistency in that general idea. And, the pattern continues to suggest colder and wetter than normal conditions into the first week of February after a brief warmer period this weekend and early next week.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We will record a few show tonight; it will be posted by 10:00 or so.

Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

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