Storms Again, then Colder

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It was a dark and stormy Saturday across Central Alabama, well not so dark during the day!! Lots of hail and damaging wind reports as the warm front made it a little further north than I expected it to come. See the end of the Weather Xtreme Video for a quick review of where the severe weather occurred.

Today many spots starting out in the clear, but I don’t expect that to last all day. Clouds due to low level moisture should form plus there are additional clouds evident on satellite off to our west and northwest. The cold air is still back to our northwest as is the upper trough axis, so I do expect to see another round of thunderstorms probably during the afternoon hours with a surge of instability from the surface low over Middle Tennessee and the lift generated by the upper trough. Those storms while not expected to produce widespread severe weather are likely to be accompanied by hail that is likely to get into the 1 to 1.25 inch category. Rainfall from the storms should be fairly light coming in between a quarter and a third of an inch.

Because of the reasonably tight pressure gradient, there is a wind advisory in effect with west wind today at 10 to 20 mph becoming more northwesterly tonight as wind speeds stay up overnight.

The upper trough elongates west to east so the cold air filters into the area Monday. Look for a high Monday only in the upper 40s. But a secondary impulse coming out of northern Missouri should swing the trough axis through the Southeast US early Tuesday morning sinking cold air all the way to the Gulf Coast. I expect to see a freeze Tuesday morning with another chilly day Tuesday with highs only reaching near 50.

Wednesday we should see good radiational cooling which is expected to bring morning lows into the upper 20s. So you may need to be thinking about protecting any tender plants that might be impacted by freezing air. Wednesday should begin a warm up that will last through the weekend as highs climb into the 50s Wednesday and into the upper 60s by Saturday. The upper flow remains pretty much northwesterly, and some minor disturbances in the flow pattern could bring some clouds across the sky, however, I do not expect to see enough moisture to cause any rainfall.

The upper ridge moves over the Central US on Sunday as we begin to see the development of another closed low over the southern Rockies. It is that system that may bring another round of severe weather to the area by April 3rd. The pattern remains active with a strong short wave possible around the 6th that could usher in some more cold air, air cold enough that we may be flirting with yet another freeze. That cold intrusion is followed by a quick warmup as an upper ridge moves over the eastern US.

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Thanks for staying tuned to the Blog. James Spann will be back bright and early Monday morning with the next edition of the Xtreme Video. Be sure to stay informed on todays weather by checking back frequently. Have a great day and Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather