Chilly Morning; Warmer Days Ahead

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RECORD LOW: At 5:00, Anniston dropped to 40 degrees, smashing the old record low for May 18, 44 set in 1973. Birmingham is at 45 degrees, within one degree of the record low there, and it is as cold as 39 degrees, which was the observation at Haleyville at 4:00 a.m. Seems like ole man winter just doesn’t want to give it up this year.

WARM-UP BEGINS LATER TODAY: We are looking at a partly to mostly sunny sky today with a high in the low 70s as the warm-up begins. That is still ten degrees below average for mid-May, however. The humidity will remain very low with a dry airmass in place.

TOMORROW THROUGH THE WEEKEND: You will really notice the warm-up tomorrow and Friday as the omega block breaks down and an upper ridge builds across the Gulf Coast states. We reach the low 80s tomorrow, and by Friday we could very well be flirting with the 90 degree mark as summer-like warmth returns. Dry air means no rain.

WARM WEEKEND: The upper ridge goes nowhere, and the chance of an afternoon shower over the weekend looks very slim, and there is really no need to mention it in the formal forecast for now. Sure looks like the high will be very close to 90 both days; quite a contrast to last weekend when some folks were shivering.

NEXT WEEK: We stay generally warm and dry Monday and Tuesday, but rain and storms should return at some point over the latter half of the week. Model consistency has not been good; at times the GFS has suggested we might have a threat of strong to severe storms, but the 00Z run keeps the better upper support to the north with only marginal severe weather threat. Just too early to be specific, but we will keep a close eye on forecast parameters in coming days for the period Wednesday through Friday (May 25-27).

AT THE BEACH: The Hangout Music Festival is this weekend at Gulf Shores, and the weather looks simply fantastic down there, with sunny days and clear nights through early next week. Highs will be mostly in the low 80s on the immediate coast, and the sea water temperature at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab early this morning was 70.48 degrees (F).

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I will be doing a weather program this morning at Hokes Bluff Elementary School… hard to believe this school year is almost over. Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon; enjoy the day!

Tags: warm-up

Category: Alabama's Weather