Storms Set To Return Wednesday

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

THIS AFTERNOON: The low clouds have finally dissipated, but a layer of broken high clouds remains over Alabama; those pushed into the state late last night by strong winds at jet stream level. Temperatures are about ten degrees warmer than yesterday, but still ten degrees below average, with readings mostly in the mid 50s at 3:00.

TOMORROW: SPC maintains the standard slight risk of severe weather for all of Louisiana and Arkansas, and parts of the adjacent states as a robust short wave will approach. A deep surface low will form west of Oklahoma City, and in the cold air north of the low some good snow is expected over parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Around here, there will be more clouds than sun, but we will stay dry with highs in the 60s.

STORMY WEDNESDAY: All of Alabama is in a slight severe weather risk for Wednesday… and it still looks like a squall line will move through the state. We note the RPM model is slower, suggesting the storms will impact the state mainly in the 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. time frame… it has the storms in the Birmingham metro around 4:00 (see the Weather Xtreme video for the graphics). The slower arrival time will mean the air will have a little more time to become unstable…the NAM brings the surface based CAPE to 617 j/kg at Birmingham by Wednesday afternoon, with a 0 to 3 km SRH (storm relative helicity) of 740 m2/s2.

It still looks like the main threat will come from damaging straight line winds, but an isolated spin up tornado within the QLCS is certainly possible during the afternoon.

HEAVY RAIN: The NAM is showing a whopping 3.78″ of rain for Birmingham with our Wednesday storm system; the GFS is drier with 1.75″, and as usual, the truth is probably somewhere in between those values. One way or another the rain will certainly be heavy on Wednesday, and we could very well wind up with some localized flooding issues.

THURSDAY: This could be a day similar to yesterday. Lots clouds with temperatures having a hard time getting out of the 40s. The GFS even hints at a few snow flurries for the northeast corner of Alabama during the day.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Much better weather. We should reach the low 60s Friday, followed by upper 60s Saturday and Sunday with a good supply of sunshine all three days. We do note a freeze is possible early Friday if the clouds clear out. Lows Saturday and Sunday morning should be in the 40-45 degree range for most places.

NEXT WEEK: Looks like the next round of showers and storms will blow in here Tuesday night or Wednesday of next week… see the Weather Xtreme video for long range ideas.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. We will record this week’s show at 8:30 p.m. CST tonight… you can listen/watch on uStream here.

FOLLOW ALONG: Here are our weather team Twitter accounts….

I had a great time today visiting with the 2nd graders at Vincent Elementary… be looking for them on the Pepsi KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News. The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

Tags: storms

Category: Alabama's Weather