Warm, Hazy Weather Continues

The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…

With little change occurring in the weather features affecting Central Alabama and the Southeast US, it appears that we will see a continuation of the hazy, smoky, warm, dry conditions of the past several days into the middle of the upcoming week. The good news, though, is that there is some hope for rain as we get into the latter half of the week.

Air quality is not good, and the Birmingham area is under a Code Orange air quality alert for today. Air flow around the high pressure centered to our east will transport smoke from wildfires over southeast Georgia into our area. People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

From today into the middle of the week, a surface high and an upper ridge maintain themselves over the Southeast, but by mid week an upper level disturbance is forecast to drop southeastward from the Northern Plains into the Tennessee Valley. Moisture here will be increasing gradually into the middle of the week, so that by Wednesday, we may begin to see air mass showers during the heat of the day primarily across West Alabama and to our west. As the front edges closer and moisture increases, showers will become more numerous and spread over Alabama but still be scattered.

The front is on our door step Friday which still appears to be our best chance for rain. The GFS has become a bit more bullish on the strength of the upper low, and I sure hope that is correct since we need the rain.

By the way, should we get to Thursday without any rain at the Birmingham airport, May 2007 will be the fifth driest May since records began back in the late 1800s. And we still stand at slightly more than 14 inches below normal for rain since the first of January.

The GFS maintains the upper disturbance in our area over next weekend. The trough axis shifts by us, but with the low so close we may still see favorable conditions for scattered showers with the potential for small scale features.

The longer range forecasts bring the weather pattern back to something more typical of this time of year with the main westerlies well to our north. During the longer range period, the GFS continues to show a lot of shower activity in the tropics, and June 1 begins the official start of the hurricane season. Nothing I’d hang a forecast on just yet, but it is interesting to see the GFS so consistent with increased showers in the tropics.

Filling in again this afternoon and evening for Ashley, so I hope you will be able to join me on ABC3340 at 5 and 10 pm. James will be back with another Weather Xtreme Video on Monday, but he will be observing a holiday schedule with just one posting. I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. God bless.

-Brian-

Category: Uncategorized