Pleasant Weather for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day in Alabama; Rain Returns by Thursday

Skies cleared late Sunday behind a cold front that passed through the area. Northwesterly breezes continued to blow overnight, keeping temperatures from falling close enough to the dewpoint in most areas to cause fog to form. But in areas where it has managed to form and temperatures are at or below 32F, some freezing fog may be present. This could cause slick spots to form on less traveled bridges, so be careful until a while after sunrise.

The NWS in Huntsville does a have Special Weather Statement out for patchy dense freezing fog for four of their counties in the Tennessee Valley.

PLEASANT CHRISTMAS EVE: Today will feature a good supply of sunshine and high temperatures in the lower 50s across the I-20 Corridor. There could be some upper 40s in places like Haleyville, Albertville, and Gadsden. With just a few clouds tonight, lows will fall into the middle 30s generally.

CHRISTMAS DAY: Tomorrow promises to be a lot like today except for a tad warmer as our winds shift to southerly. High pressure will remain in control of Alabama’s weather, but moisture levels will be rising.

WEDNESDAY: Showers will begin breaking out to the west of Alabama o Tuesday and may impact parts of far Northwest Alabama Tuesday and Wednesday. Clouds will begin increasing area wide and high temperatures will climb into the lower 60s. Rain will start edging into Alabama late Wednesday night, setting the stage for a soaking rain Thursday into early Friday. There could be a little thunder mixed in at times.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS: By the time the rain comes to an end behind a slow moving cold front on Friday, amounts should average 2-3 inches across Central Alabama.

BRIEF BREAK: There could be a break in the rain Friday afternoon and Friday night. But rain should return at times over the weekend.

NEW YEAR’S FORECAST: The GFS Is much more delayed with the rainfall for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day now. This run pretty much erases the chance of severe weather on New Year’s Day, which is good news. We will continue to monitor things.

MUSIC CITY BOWL WEATHER: Auburn fans should find improving conditions on Friday as they trek to Nashville. Rain should end by morning with some clearing during the day. Temperatures will be falling from the lower 60s into the 50s during the game.

ORANGE BOWL WEATHER: Alabama fans will experience some South Florida winter weather as balmy southeasterly breezes keep South Beach in the 80s by day and near 70F at night with just a few tropical showers to break up the monotony. Should be mostly dry for the game Saturday evening, although a passing shower can’t be ruled out.

GULF COAST WEATHER: Nice through Wednesday along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida. Highs will be in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Rain arrives late Wednesday, like here, and continues until Friday afternoon. Some thunder will be involved but no severe weather. Rain returns on Saturday with more downpours likely. Weekend highs could flirt with 70F. Water temperatures are around 55F. Rip current threats will trend back to high later in the week. But who’s going in the water anyway?

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain Greg Carbin from the WPC and Rich Thompson from the SPC. They will talk about the weather of 2018 and a little about activities at the place that creates our severe weather watches. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes. You can watch the show live at live.bigbrainsmedia.com You will be able to see the show on the James Spann 24×7 weather channel on cable or directly over the air on the dot 2 feed.

ON THIS DATE IN 1872: Downtown Chicago recorded its coldest temperature reading ever when the mercury reached 23 degrees below zero. The high temperature at Minneapolis MN only reached 17 degrees below zero. Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS