Another Gorgeous Spring Day

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

Add a few more clouds to the sky and turn up the temperature a few degrees and it looks like Central Alabama is going to have another gorgeous Spring day to enjoy. Interesting that the high at the Birmingham International Airport yesterday was 65 degrees which is 11 degrees below the 30-year average high for this date. Todays high which is expected to nudge into the lower 70s will still be 3 to 5 degrees cooler than average. I’ll take it because I know that Ryan’s comments yesterday are all too true – it won’t be long before we’re complaining about the heat!

The clouds today and Monday come about as a weak short wave move across the Southeast US. With a reasonably dry air mass in place, the short wave has little to work on, so I believe we stay dry. The surface high will be centered northeast of us in the vicinity of the New England states, so we’ll have to watch for extra clouds and the impact of a possible wedge on temperatures. Highs on Monday are likely to drop back a few degrees with the easterly flow and a few extra clouds.

Slight upper ridging on Tuesday should bring temperatures back up to the middle 70s even with some clouds passing overhead.

Wednesday could be a somewhat challenging day for forecasters. A fairly strong short wave moves through the Great Lakes area which should drag a front into the Southeast US. However, the front is likely to weaken and wash out as it gets into our area. But another stronger short wave comes quickly into play behind the one on Wednesday and should help to end the risk of showers by late morning on Thursday. Rainfall amounts are likely to be all over the place due to the showery nature of the precipitation, so look for spotty rainfall of around a half inch.

Friday looks like a nice day with highs about typical for this time of year – about 76 or so. But the dry spell will be short-lived with yet another short wave approaching the state on Saturday. But this short wave is coming out of the southern Rockies and should cross the Lower Mississippi River Valley on Saturday. That short wave should generate a surface low over West Texas on Friday with thunderstorms to our west. The surface low moves quickly to West Tennessee on Saturday bringing a round of storms to our area for next weekend. The GFS and the ECMWF are in close agreement on the overall positioning, however, the GFS is much stronger with the strength of the low than the European is. This appears to bring a potential round of severe weather to Alabama with fairly good instability as CAPE values climb into the 1,000 to 1,250 range, however, the shear values appear to be too low for any kind of significant tornado threat. But please remember we’re on the doorstep of voodoo country, so this will bear watching with future model runs.

The front should move on out Saturday evening or early Sunday bringing another cool down which does not appear to be as chilly as the one we are currently experiencing.

Since I need to get this done a tad earlier this morning due to ushering duties at church, the model data for the long range was not available, so I won’t speculate on voodoo country this morning.

And you can follow news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. Stay in the know by following the whole gang – here’s the list…

I hope you have been able to enjoy the great weather this weekend since next weekend looks to be at least partially wet. James Spann should be back with the next edition of the Weather Xtreme Video first thing on Monday morning. Have a wonderful Sunday and Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather