Rain Chances Slowly Increasing

| July 28, 2008 @ 3:26 pm | Reply

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…

Looks like most reporting stations around Alabama are in the 90 to 95 degree range at mid-afternoon… Birmingham is reporting 92; the Shelby County Airport is at 92, and both Anniston and Tuscaloosa are reporting 93. Just about what you expect around here in late July.

So far, not much on radar, but watch the Weather Xtreme video and you can see the SPC did issue a mesoscale discussion indicating they expect storms to fire over the Tennessee Valley ahead of an MCV (mesoscale convective vort max) over Tennessee during the heat of the day. Some of those storms could work down into North-Central Alabama tonight; we will keep an eye on radar.

THE DAYS AHEAD: We expect a general increase in the number of showers and storms through mid-week, with heat levels slowly backing down. Still looks like the best coverage of showers and storms this week will be on Thursday when a short wave lifts the very moist, maritime tropical air over Alabama. A good chance we won’t get out of the 80s on Thursday with some neighborhoods getting beneficial rain again. These are the kind of days we simply didn’t see last summer.

Still some hint of a tropical type low in the northeast Gulf of Mexico this week; we continue to watch the convective flare south of Mobile Bay with interest. That is very warm water, and sometimes those “home grown” systems in the back yard can sneak up on you. One way or another, this is expected to drift northeast, and bring some heavy rain to parts of the Florida peninsula and South Georgia by the end of the week and the weekend.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: The GFS continues to show drying across North Alabama Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with very few showers and highs in the mid 90s on those days. We will trend the forecast in that direction. If a tropical system does form in the northeast Gulf, we will be on the dry side anyway on these days.

ELSEWHERE IN THE TROPICS: A nice wave has emerged off the coast of Africa; we will keep an eye on that on the long journey across the Atlantic. This is a lower latitude system that will pass south of the Cape Verde Islands.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We will record a new show tonight… it will be posted around 11:00 or so.

TWITTER: Don’t forget, you can follow our news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. And, my personal Twitter feed is here if you want to keep up with my adventures in life. Twitter is a short messaging service you can receive via the web, cell phone, or IM.

I had a great time seeing everyone at First Baptist Church of Oneonta this morning… look for the kids on the KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News! The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

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James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.

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