Numerous Showers/Storms Today

MOIST AIR RETURNS: The northern half of Alabama actually had a one day break from rain yesterday, but deeper moisture moved northward overnight, and we expect a number of showers and storms around over the next 18 hours. In fact, showers are in progress early this morning over parts of Northwest Alabama.

The sky will be occasionally cloudy today, and we won’t get out of the 80s because of clouds and showers.

MID-WEEK: Looks like fairly routine summer weather tomorrow through Thursday; a mix of sun and clouds each day with scattered showers and thunderstorms, most active during the afternoon and evening hours. Highs in the 87-90 degree range for most places.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Here in mid-August it is very hard to differentiate small scale changes in moisture and temperatures aloft that determine the placement and coverage of showers and storms days in advance; for now we will keep a persistence forecast going and mention “scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms” on these three days with a mix of sun and clouds. Highs will be pretty close to 90 degrees each day.

ECLIPSE DAY: On Monday, August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of the sun. Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights – a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun’s tenuous atmosphere – the corona – can be seen, will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path here in Alabama will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun’s disk.

The coverage will be 93 percent in Birmingham, and 97 percent in Huntsville. It begins arounds 12:00 noon, peaks at 1:32, and ends at 2:58. The big questions involves the weather.

For now, it looks like a fairly routine day. Meaning, we will have a field of scattered or broken cumulus clouds, with potential for a few scattered showers during the eclipse. But, at this point we don’t see anything to suggest that we will be dealing with a total overcast. Bottom line is that the eclipse should be visible for a decent part of Alabama; we will fine tune the forecast as it gets closer.

TROPICS: Tropical Storm Gert in the Atlantic is no threat to land; it will pass between the U.S. and Bermuda on the journey to the North Atlantic; it could briefly become a hurricane tomorrow night.

A wave in the eastern Atlantic has some potential for development later this week; if something forms there models suggest it will stay north of the Caribbean and won’t be a threat to the Gulf of Mexico, but it is very early in the game. We will keep an eye on it.

BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page. The Beach Forecast is partially underwritten by the support of Brett/Robinson Vacation Rentals in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Click here to see Brett/Robinson’s Own Your Summer specials now!

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Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 4:00 this afternoon… enjoy the day!

Tags: ANC, showers

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