Saturday Afternoon Look at Alabama’s Weather

It is a partly cloudy and hot day across North and Central Alabama. 5 minute data shows temperatures ranging from 91F to 97F. Muscle Shoals, Huntsville, and Montgomery are at the top of the charts right now. Several stations are at 91F, most notably Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Birmingham has briefly touched 92F, Tuscaloosa 93. Gadsden is at 95F, Anniston 93F.

Heat index values are a concern again and heat advisories are in effect for much of the area. The HIX at Huntsville is 107F, Decatur at 109F> Pell City and Talladega are at 105F, Talladega 108F. Our Selma/Montgomery Stations are in the 106-107F range.

Be cautious if you are working or playing outside this afternoon and again tomorrow. Recognize the signs of heat exhaustion and call for help if you begin to experience it.

Only isolated showers over South Central Alabama this afternoon. One is just west of I-65 between Prattville and Montgomery. Other pop ups are over Lee and Russell counties. One cell is developing over Choctaw county as well.

A new shower has developed over Northern Calhoun county. It is north of Wellington and Jacksonville.

Everything is moving slowly to the south.

Isolated storms will continue to develop in the unstable airmass across Alabama. But low level lapse rates are not conducive to storm development, so that will keep areal coverage down. Bulk shear is about as low as it ever gets 4 knots, so the storms will go up and come back down pretty quickly. Downdraft CAPE is very high, so any storms that do form and can hold together at all will have to the potential. to produce a downburst with its high winds.

Brief torrential rains can cause local flooding. And we have to always respect the lightning. If you are close enough to hear the thunder, you are close enough to be struck, so take shelter in a substantial structure if a storm is nearby.

Watching a cold front over northern Indiana. It will try to work its way south, having its best luck its western flank. This will result in a sort of northwest to southeast oriented fronts working through our state tomorrow. Don’t get your parkas out, but it will drop morning lows a couple of degrees early in the new work week.

The SPC does have the I-22 Corridor in a Marginal Risk (level 1/5) tomorrow and tomorrow night. Latest HRRR does show a thunderstorm complex approaching North Alabama tonight but has it falling apart. Just a few showers and weakening storms during the overnight hours. If that disturbance can refire tomorrow afternoon, it could lead to damaging winds, but that looks questionable at this time.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS