A Dry and Cooler Weekend

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What a Friday in Birmingham with some extremely rare clouds that turned the sky into a a series of breaking waves! Be sure to scroll down a few posts to see the photos sent to us of the Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds. Probably nothing that spectacular today, but we should see improving weather with the clouds breaking up and giving way to some afternoon sunshine. The high today should reach 54 or so, a tad cooler than the last several days but reasonably close to the average highs for this time of December.

Sunday should be another nice day as will Monday with a gradual warming trend. By Monday we should see our highs climbing into the lower 60s as we come under a ridge and some southwesterly flow. The ridge Monday is pumping up ahead of the a strong trough/closed low coming out of the Southwest US. That trough should begin to affect the area on Tuesday as rain moves into Central Alabama primarily during the afternoon. The system moves steadily across the lower Mississippi River Valley late Tuesday and the first half of Wednesday. There is a marginal threat that some of the storms could reach severe limits due to the shear environment ahead of the cold front, however, confidence in the overall instability and thermodynamics is not good. So at least right now the threat is very low.

The trough moves by Alabama Wednesday afternoon bringing improving weather for us. But with another closed low holding back over northern Mexico, we are not likely to have a long period of good weather before that one kicks out across the Southeast US on Friday. This will bring another round of wet weather to the state primarily on Friday and into early Saturday. The weather should return to dry conditions Saturday, but another strong short wave digging southward along the West Coast of the US will set up another trough/closed low over the Southwest US.

Rainfall with the first system – Tuesday and Wednesday – is likely to produce 1 to 2 inch amounts across much of Alabama. QPF folks suggest as much as 2.3 inches over the East Central part of Alabama.

The pattern remains pretty active as we edge into 2012. Another round of wet weather is possible on the 27th/28th with a shot of relatively cold air. Another short wave in the flow suggests rain again on the 30th with some moderation of temperatures and then another one around January 2nd.

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Thanks for staying tuned to the Weather Xtreme Video. I expect to have the next one posted by 8 am or so on Sunday morning. Enjoy the day and perform at least one act of kindness in honor of the season. Godspeed.

-Brian-

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Category: Alabama's Weather