Cooling Trend Through Mid-Week
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FINE MARCH DAY: Nice to see the sun shining brightly across Alabama today… temperatures are mostly in the 60s, and the humidity is low. Some clouds will invade the state tonight and tomorrow morning with passing disturbance, but rain is not expected since the low level air is so dry. Sunshine will be out in full force tomorrow afternoon with a high in the low 60s.
THURSDAY MORNING FREEZE: Still looks like we will drop into the 27-32 degree range early Thursday morning. Then, Thursday will be dry but noticeably cooler with a high only in the low to mid 50s, well below average for mid-March in Alabama.
THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING: The forecast gets interesting for the Tennessee Valley of far North Alabama, as precipitation breaks out. The wet-bulb cooling effect could very well bring a few snow flakes to North Alabama from about midnight Thursday night until 8:00 Friday morning… north of U.S. 278 (north of a line from Hamilton to Cullman to Gadsden). The GFS actually tries to bring 1-2 inches of snow to places like Florence and Huntsville. This is a very “iffy” situation; the low level thickness values really don’t support snow, but wet-bulb cooling could be a real factor.
Down this way (Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Anniston, Gadsden), it looks like a cold rain begins Friday morning (the 12Z run of the GFS is faster)… and periods of rain will continue Friday afternoon into Friday night. We might have a hard time getting out of the 40s Friday thanks to the clouds and rain. Not exactly a Chamber of Commerce kind of day.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday, unfortunately, looks wet statewide. Periods of rain, maybe a little thunder, as a warm front moves slowly northward from the Gulf. The high should be in the 60s; it won’t rain all day, but it could rain at any time during the day.
Sunday looks interesting; the widespread rain could very well end early Sunday morning, followed by a decent amount of midday sunshine thanks to a mid level dry slot. But, we will be in the warm sector of the storm system to the west, and strong storms could fire up during the afternoon and evening hours with temperatures rising well into the 70s, along with dewpoints in the 60s. We will monitor this situation in coming days… but it looks like one of those wild March weekends with everything from snow to heavy rain to strong storms.
NEXT WEEK: Much colder air blows into the state next week, and I fully expect a late season freeze on at least one or two mornings during the mid-week period. See the Weather Xtreme video for the details.
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I really enjoyed seeing the kids at Greene County Head Start in Eutaw today… be looking for them on the Pepsi KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News! The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted here bright and early tomorrow by 7:00 a.m…
Category: Alabama's Weather
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James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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