Saturday Weather Briefing and Video: A Beautiful Day Today

Good morning, everyone! It is my pleasure to sit in for Scott on this beautiful Saturday morning. I get to deliver the forecast two days in a row. The forecast will be very interesting, as always. There is lots to talk about, so let’s get going.

DID YOU SEE THE AURORA? Everyone was going bonkers last night with the beautiful pinks and magentas of the Aurora Borealis dancing in the Alabama sky. A G5 geomagnetic storm struck Earth overnight, producing magnificent auroras as far south as Texas and Florida, including many locations here in Alabama, including the Birmingham Metro area. Planetary K levels (KP) levels reached 9 during the evening, the top of the scale. Fortunately, it appears that power grids and satellites made it through with little impact.

A BUSY AND NICE SATURDAY: So many things are happening this Saturday. The Regions Tradition tournament continues today at Greystone Golf & Country Club. The action starts at 8:35 a.m. Like yesterday, today’s weather will be fairly perfect, with a good supply of sunshine and high temperatures in the upper 70s. If football is more your speed, the undefeated Birmingham Stallions will take on the St. Louis Battlehawks at Protective Stadium at 3 p.m. this afternoon in the most anticipated game of the UFL season thus far. Winds will be light, out of the north and northwest. Dewpoints in the lower 50s will keep the air from feeling humid.

ON THE WEATHER MAPS: In the upper levels of the atmosphere, we have a trough in the East, a trough in the Four Corners area, and a ridge in the middle. At the surface, a 1016 mb high pressure center is located over Trenton, Georgia. A disturbance and low-pressure system is moving through the Great Lakes in the vicinity of Michigan. A weak, trailing cold front will bring a few clouds our way today, but they won’t block the sun. There could be a few light showers in Tennessee, and a couple of them could veer into the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama, especially after 8 p.m. tonight.

MOTHER’S DAY FORECAST: As we honor our moms on their special day, the ridge will build over Alabama and the Deep South. Triple high-pressure centers will be located over Arkansas, southern Indiana, and Sewanee, Tennessee. Clouds will thicken during the day, and showers and thunderstorms will be approaching from the west. After a nice start in the middle and upper 50s, afternoon readings will climbs in to the 80s. Another nice day for the final round of the Regions Traditions. Showers will reach western Alabama after midnight.

MONDAY/TUESDAY: Those showers will continue to increase as we head into Monday morning. An upper low over Kansas and Missouri and a surface low over Kansas will lift a warm front northeastward across Alabama. We probably will see a couple of rounds of rain. As the low track to the north of us across Tennessee, the showers will linger into Tuesday. Highs will be in the 70s. There could be a little thunder involved late Monday night and into the predawn hours, but no severe weather is expected. South Alabama will experience heavy rains. For North and Central Alabama, amounts should average less than an inch. A cold front will sweep through Tuesday night, putting an end to the rain.

MID TO LATE WEEK: Skies on Wednesday will be partly cloudy behind the front, becoming mostly sunny as we go through the day. Highs will be centered around 80 degrees. The ridge that built over Alabama in the wake of the cold front will begin to weaken by Thursday and Thursday night. Thursday skies will become cloudier as we go through the day. A few showers will move South Alabama late in the day. Showers and thunderstorms will become likely Thursday night. There are some signs that severe weather may be in the picture after midnight over parts of the state. Showers will linger into Friday. Rainfall amounts will be fairly generous, reaching two inches in spots across North and Central Alabama. A second round of storms will impact South Alabama, leading to heavy rainfall.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK: The upper low will keep a few showers in the forecast into Saturday and Sunday. Highs will be in the 80s, lows will be in the 60s. Rainfall amounts will be light, generally less than one quarter of an inch.

VOODOO TERRITORY: The unsettled weather will continue into the week two forecast period.

BEACHCAST: A very nice week along the beautiful beaches of Alabama and Northwest Florida is coming to an end with the fine weather continuing. Showers will return Monday with thunderstorms moving in Tuesday. Heavy rain is likely. A cold front will sweep out the rainfall for Wednesday, but the good weather will be short lived as rain returns Thursday, with showers and storms on Friday. The front will stall out for the weekend, leading to more rounds of showers and storms. Highs will be in the lower 80s and lows will be in the upper 60s to lower 70s. The rip current that has been high will be low to moderate into midweek. It should increase again by the end of the week. Water temperatures have jumped into the lower 80s.

Click here to see the Beach Forecast Center page.

IN THE TROPICS: We should see our first eastern Pacific hurricane by late in the week. A depression is forecast by the GFS to form off the southwestern coast of Mexico. In weak steering currents, it won’t travel very far, becoming a tropical storm by Thursday and a hurricane by Friday before making landfall Saturday night near Puerto Angel on the Mexican coast.

DANCING WITH THE STATS: Record warmth in the Pacific Northwest on Friday. Portland OR hit 91 degrees, breaking the old record for the date by 2 degrees. And Vancouver WA hit 90 degrees, breaking their record for the date by one degrees.

WEATHERBRAINS: This week, the panel will entertain Mike Eilts, a familiar name in weather circles. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes. You can watch the show live on our new YouTube channel for the show.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 1953, 1970: Two of the most infamous tornadoes in United States history occurred on May 11th. The 1953 Waco tornado is the deadliest in Texas history with 114 fatalities. The 1970 Lubbock, Texas tornado (actually two of them) destroyed one quarter of the city and killed 28 people. Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather