Warmer Today/Monday, Then Winter Returns

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Central Alabama is in store for another couple of great winter days with plenty of sunshine today and Monday. Temperatures will be coolish today with highs around the 50-degree mark but should warm up to around 60 on Monday. But then another surge of cold air arrives dropping us back into the 40s for highs with lows by Wednesday morning around 19.

The upper level pattern remains very active with basically a long wave trough positioned over the eastern half of the country. It is through that long wave trough that a number of short wave disturbances will be traversing as we stay in a chilly northwesterly flow. And combine that with a large surface high pressure system over the Middle and Lower Mississippi River Valley, we’ll also stay precipitation free for the next week or so.

The strong cold front will blast through Alabama in the early morning hours of Tuesday bringing us some gusty northwesterly wind and a deep chill. I do not expect to see temperatures change much on Tuesday with daytime highs struggling to reach 40 degrees. It’s quite possible that we’ll see another one of those days with our 24-hour high for January 21st coming just after midnight.

With the long wave trough pretty much anchored over the eastern US, a parade of upper level disturbances will maintain the cold into Thursday and Friday before we see much warming by next weekend. So, much of the upcoming week will see highs and lows below our 30-year seasonal averages.

The pattern weakens just a bit on Saturday and Sunday in response to the approach of a low latitude upper level disturbance forecast to come across northern Mexico. This has the prospect of bringing the dry weather here to an end as it taps into an abundance of Pacific moisture. This could see January end and February start on a wet note. The current forecast suggests just rain for the Southeast US, but the Central and Northern Plains may see another round of winter weather. Between yesterday and today, the GFS look out into voodoo country has been consistent with this trend.

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James Spann will have the next Weather Xtreme Video bright and early on Monday morning. Check back with the Blog for additional details on our ever changing weather pattern, and by all means, get ready for another cold period that will last for several days. Enjoy today and Monday and Godspeed.

-Brian-

Category: Alabama's Weather