Improving Weather Ahead

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When you have a dog who just does not understand lightning flashing and thunder rolling, it is very difficult to sleep through the passage of any thunderstorms. Such was the case this morning for me and Cheyenne with the first clap of thunder around 3:30 am or so. But the weather is going to be improving as thunderstorms will soon be clearing Central Alabama and should clear Southeast Alabama by very late morning. Rainfall was heavy with some spots reporting nearly 2 inches of rain, biggest rain so far for 2014. There were also scattered reports of hail with most below severe limits, but a couple of reports from Calhoun County were of hail 1 inch in diameter, right at the criteria for severe thunderstorm.

The surface front will march off the East Coast this evening allowing for improving weather over the eastern half of the country as a surface high pressure center settles into the Southeast US. While Sunday will be a little cooler with lows in the middle to upper 30s and highs in the upper 50s, the sunshine will feel good before the next in a series of systems advances on the area Monday.

The 500 millibar flow is characterized by a series of strong waves moving through the overall long wave trough anchored for now over the eastern US. The next wave zips by on Monday bringing another round of weather, but as that system zips to New England on Tuesday, another short wave drops in behind that first one. This second one will have a fairly dry atmosphere to deal with but it will bring another cold shot of air with it. So look for Wednesday to be a cold day with the potential for temperatures to stay in the 30s much of the day as the 540 thickness contour plunges southward once again reaching the Alabama Gulf Coast.

Yet another wave drops in on Friday for some additional cold air, but the moisture should remain limited so we’ll probably see just a few clouds with this system. The long wave trough weakens a little by Saturday, a week from today, so we should see a fairly nice weekend with temperatures around seasonal values for the middle of January for lows and highs.

Peeking out into voodoo country, the rapid series of waves continues but pushed a little further north through about the 20th. The GFS amplifies the long wave trough again around the 24th with a strong short wave coming out of Texas which will need to be evaluated for the potential for winter weather in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. But as you know, this is way out in voodoo country, so it will probably change, maybe more than once, before we get there. Just fun to watch the evolution of the model projections.

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Thanks for staying tuned to the Weather Xtreme Video. I plan to have the next video posted by 8 am or so on Sunday morning. I’ll also be filling in for Ashley on the weather at 6 and 10 pm today and 5 and 10 pm on Sunday, so you can catch the latest weather forecast on ABC 3340 news then. Have a great day, stay dry, and Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather