Wet and Cool for Wednesday and Thursday

It was interesting yesterday with the wet weather developing a few hours later than I expected. But when the rain arrived, the temperature flatlined around the 70-degree mark.

Clouds cover nearly all of Alabama this morning with morning lows in most locations near the 70-degree mark. The upper trough has dug into the Lower Mississippi River Valley as expected and it should take up residence there for several days. That should keep us cloudy with off and on periods of rain today. A flash flood watch has been issued for much of Alabama excluding the Tennessee River Valley and West Central Alabama through 7 pm Thursday. Highs today will be held to the lower 80s. The biggest concern will be the training of echoes with heavy rain which could produce localized flash flooding.

The upper trough will stick around through Friday but begin to weaken by then. This will keep us cloudy and somewhat wet with fairly numerous showers and storms through Friday. Highs will be in the 80s, well below our seasonal average of 91 for early August.

Over the weekend, the upper trough will weaken further as the Bermuda High noses into the Southeast US. This should return Alabama to a more summer like pattern with fewer storms driven primarily by the heat of the day. Highs will once again come near 90 degrees.

Monday, a strong trough moving through the westerlies will once again dampen the upper ridge. The Bermuda High pushes back into the Atlantic while a strong upper ridge becomes situated over the Four Corners area of the Southwest US. This once again should favor us with highs mainly in the upper 80s, but precipitable water values remain fairly high, so scattered showers remain possible everyday.

Rainfall amounts across will display a west-to-east gradient with lower amounts along the Mississippi-Alabama line and higher amounts along the border with Georgia where 2 to 3 inches will be possible.

Looking out into voodoo country, the GFS is favoring the idea of maintaining the trough in the eastern US through Week 2. This represents the best possible conditions for the eastern US keeping us out of any extreme heat. The GFS is also continuing to show an upper level weakness that should keep a pattern of daily showers in the forecast across the Southeast US.

Tropics: All remains quiet across the Atlantic basin; tropical storm formation is not expected for the next several days.

Beach Forecast: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.

WeatherBrains: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 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.

Thanks for tuning into the Weather Xtreme Video. We are on a one-a-day schedule for the week as James enjoys some time off. The next Weather Xtreme Video should be posted here Thursday by 7 am or so. Godspeed.

-Brian-

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