Sunday Weather Xtreme: A Nice Sunday; Increasing Chances for Rain in the Days Ahead

It’s hard to believe that June is already drawing to a close. The month has been wet and cool across most of Alabama. In fact, all of North Central Alabama is 5-12 inches above normal for the last 30 days. At the Birmingham Airport, For the month of June, Birmingham is 3.54 inches above normal, and 5.66 inches above normal for the year.

ON THE WEATHER MAPS THIS MORNING: we find strong high pressure over the western United States, where unprecedented heat is being observed. High pressure is also over the eastern United States. In the middle is a trough. AT the surface, strong high pressure is located to the southeast of Newfoundland, which ridges down into the southeastern United States.

FOR YOUR SUNDAY: We’re restarting off in the upper 60s to lower 70s this morning. Skies are partly cloudy, to occasionally cloudy with the humid air in place, but there will be a good supply of sunshine today. Highs will warm into the upper 80s to near 90F. A few scattered showers and storms will develop as we go through the morning and into the afternoon hours. Any showers will die out early this evening and you can expect a calm, humid night, with lows near 70F.

THE WEEK AHEAD: Alabama will find its self on the lowest rung of the Ring of Fire around the high-pressure ridge extending into the Southeast. The shower and thunderstorm chances will gradually ramp up as moisture levels increase. Temperatures will gradually ratchet down from near 90F on Monday into the lower 80s by the end of the week. Overnight lows will be in the upper 60s to near 70F.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK: Showers and thunderstorms look likely on Sunday ahead of an approaching cold front. If that cold front lives up to its billing and makes it past us Saturday night, it could give us a very pleasant Fourth of July with no rain and slightly lower humidities.

VOODOO COUNTRY: It looks like another front will be heading our way at the end of the period around Sunday the 11th. This means more rain and slightly cooler than normal temperatures.

BEACHCAST: Fairly typical summertime weather along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida. Storms are a pretty good bet each day, with fairly high rain chances each afternoon, But each day won’t be a total washout, with several hours of sunshine. High temperatures will be in the upper 80s. Lows will be in the middle 70s. Water temperatures are in the lower 80s. The rip current risk is expected to be moderate all week.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

NATIONALLY: An amazing and disastrous heat wave has engulfed the Pacific Northwest this weekend. Saturday’s high in Portland OR was 107F, tying their all-time record high. It is expected to be 111F today, which would shatter that record. Seattle’s all-time record high is 103F. That is expected to be tied today and exceeded tomorrow when the temperature is forecast to be 106F. The all-time record high at Olympia WA if 104F. That record will be surpassed today if the forecasted temperature of 107F is attained. The heat is truly unprecedented.

DANCING WITH THE STATS: The 8.06 inches of rain that fell at Tuscaloosa on the 19th during Tropical Storm Claudette was a record for the date, by a long shot. The previous record was 2.07 set in 2017. It is also the all-time record rainfall for any day there.

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WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain two important researchers talking about historical changes in the definition of a tornado outbreak. Harold Brooks, who is a true friend of the podcast, is always an entertaining interview. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes. You can watch the show live at live.bigbrainsmedia.com or on James’ YouTube Channel 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 1957: Hurricane Audrey strengthened rapidly just before landfall on the Gulf Coast near the remote fishing village of Cameron LA on the Texas/Louisiana border during the early morning hours. Many residents went to bed the night before thinking that they had time to evacuate the next morning but were caught by surprise by the faster moving and stronger than anticipated storm. The storm’s central pressure dropped from 973 to 945 millibars (and perhaps even lower) in just 5 hours. Winds reached 150 mph. The rapid intensification generated a storm surge of at least 12 feet above normal which was not anticipated. 390 people died in Louisiana (127 of them unidentified) with another 192 were reported missing. The loss of life was the greatest in the United States since the 1938 Hurricane in New England. Areas as far as 25 miles inland were inundated by the storm tides. As much as percent of the homes in the area from Cameron to Grand Cheniere, Louisiana were destroyed or floated off their foundations. A brick courthouse and cement block icehouse were the only structures standing in Cameron after the hurricane. Just 4 buildings were left standing in Crede LA. A 78 ton fishing boat was tossed up and onto an offshore oil drilling platform. 14 people were injured in tornadoes in Alabama after landfall. $130 million in damage resulted from the hurricane. Citizens brought several wrongful death lawsuits against the U.S. Weather Bureau for not warning them properly. But a jury found for the defendant under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and the lawsuit was unsuccessful.
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