Sensational Saturday

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The typical high temperature in Central Alabama on Friday should have been around 81 but the high at the Birmingham airport was only 68 – that’s 13 degrees below what you would normally expect for a May 16. Well, I think that will change today with a nice warmup in store for us.

Of course, we’ll have to burn off the fog which was pretty dense in some locations as seen on the Skycam network. But that should burn off by 9 or 10 am and present us with a sensational Saturday with sunshine and much warmer temperatures. The highs today should reach the upper 70s.

The rest of the next seven days looks alike a roller coaster. I expect a cold front now located just north of Chicago to charge southward tonight and Sunday presenting us with a chance for showers and perhaps a thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon and evening. Dew points are not forecast to climb terribly high, but mid and upper 50 values should be enough to see scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms.

The front charges off the coast and we clear out for Monday. But another disturbance in the overall long wave across the eastern US will bring another front to the area late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Once again we clear out for Thursday. So the roller coaster continues with some chance of rain every other day.

Then the GFS develops an interesting pattern with two deep troughs – one on the west coast and one on the east coast with a small but strong short wave between the two troughs. This disturbance migrates from Northeast Texas on Thursday to Southeast Alabama on Saturday. An the GFS doesn’t generate much precip with it – looks like just one big thunderstorm. I’m not suggesting that this won’t happen, but I don’t have much confidence in this solution at the moment. If this comes true, we could have a stormy Saturday for May 24th.

Further out into voodoo country, the GFS is suggesting a flattened pattern that will be summer-like for Central Alabama. By the end of May, a trough sets up again over the eastern third of the country promising some good rain chances.

I’m off to Caldwell Park this morning to judge the Do Dah Day parade. I’m amazed every year at how the dogs seem to know that this is their special day. Hope you get a chance to come out to all the festivities. I expect to have the next Weather Xtreme Video posted by 8 am or so tomorrow morning. God bless.

-Brian-

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