A Tale of High Pressures

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There’s a big weather change coming for much of the eastern half of the country in the form of some of the coldest air of the season. The record low for next Wednesday is 22 for Birmingham, and while we will probably not challenge that value, we will be seeing morning lows dip into the 20s.

For today, a nearly zonal flow aloft will keep us around seasonal values with morning lows in the lower 40s and afternoon highs in the upper 60s. Our pattern remains nearly zonal into Monday when a big change begins to take place.

For football fans, great weather in store for games today. Alabama hosts LSU tonight in Tuscaloosa with a 7:00 pm CST kickoff); the sky will be cloudy with mid and high clouds and a kickoff temperature of 54 degrees that will fall into the 40s during the second half. Auburn is at Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers (11:00 a.m. CT kickoff)… the sky will be mostly sunny with temperatures rising from near 50 at kickoff into the mid 50s by the final whistle. And UAB is on the road; they play at Marshall in Huntingdon, WV; the sky will be sunny with 52 degrees at kickoff, and 57 degrees by the end of the game.

Sunday and Monday will be dry and seasonal for us, but big changes take place into Tuesday with the digging of a strong trough into the Central US. Moisture continues to look very limited with only a very small chance for narrow line of showers to move through on Tuesday as an Arctic front passes through the area ushering in the coldest temperatures of the season. Tuesday is likely to be a very chilly day with temperatures remaining in the 50s, kind of a no high type of day. And Wednesday will start the day off in the 20s for most locations with highs only reaching the upper 40s with good sunshine.

The deep trough over the eastern US begins to moderate on Thursday but even as it does another upper trough is forecast to begin digging into the Central US on Friday and into Saturday. This would bring another round of chilly weather to the eastern US but not nearly as cold as the mid-week system. There is a better chance of rain ahead of this system as the Gulf is forecast to open up, so it looks like late Saturday or Sunday there will be some potential for a good shot of rain. Right now this system does not appear likely to produce any severe weather. By Friday we should be back into the lower 60s for highs, but much of the upcoming week will be characterized by colder than average temperatures. At this time of November, our highs are typically near 67 with lows around 42, and we’ll be about 10 to 15 degrees below that for much of mid week.

Looking ahead into Week 2 or voodoo country, the GFS is showing a major ridge across the eastern US around the 22nd of November, so a big warm up could follow the cold spell ahead for this week.

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I’m planning on taking in several football games including Florida State versus Wake Forest. My hopeful predictions of a National Championship game between FSU and Alabama has gotten a big shot in the arm with the lose by Oregon Thursday evening. Those predictions, naturally, are based on no upsets to either Alabama or FSU through the end of the season. The next Weather Xtreme Video will be posted around 8 am or so on Sunday. Enjoy the day and Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather