Coldest Day So Far This Season
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BACK IN THE SADDLE: A special thank you to Ashley Brand, Brian Peters, J.B. Elliott, and Bill Murray for stepping in and giving me a needed vacation week. Most of you know I run from well before dawn to late at night producing products for TV, radio, and the Internet, and vacation weeks are rare for me. Good to get away and spend some good time with the family. Will post some of the pictures from Snowshoe, WV later today if you missed them on social media.
COLD IS THE WORD: We won’t get past the 30s today as the coldest air so far this season settles into Alabama. Most places are in the 20s this morning.. some reports from Skywatchers at 5:00 include 21 at Black Creek (northeast of Gasden in Etowah County), 23 at Center Point, and 24 at Fayette. Birmingham’s official temperature at 5:00 was 27, but a steady north wind at 14 mph produced a wind chill index of 16 degrees.
Despite a sunny sky today, we expect a high only in the upper 30s. The wind won’t be as fierce as yesterday and last night, thank goodness. And, tonight will feature another hard freeze with lows well down in the 20s. Colder spots hit the teens.
QUICK WARM-UP: This cold snap won’t last long. The latter half of the week will feature a warming trend. We reach the low 50s tomorrow, mid to upper 50s Thursday, and mid 60s Friday. We stay dry with just a few scattered clouds around.
WEEKEND PEEK: A disturbance will bring some risk of light rain to Alabama Saturday, but moisture is very limited, and it looks like amounts will be less than a tenth of an inch for most places. And, that light rain moves out of the state early Sunday, with the sky becoming partly sunny by Sunday afternoon. Saturday will be mild with a high in the 60s, but Sunday will be a bit cooler with upper 50s.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: At this point it looks like we will be dry and cool Monday and Tuesday, followed by a chance of rain at mid-week on Wednesday, followed by another shot of very cold air by the end of the week. But, like this cold shot today, it won’t last long. The North Atlantic Oscillation remains neutral to positive, and until this really goes negative for a longer period of time, a prolonged period of very cold weather looks unlikely. Of course, this is Alabama after all and “prolonged cold weather” just doesn’t happen very often. Our average high never goes below the 50s here, even in the dead of winter. Take some time to see the Weather Xtreme video for details.
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Time to get back to work… we are back on the “two a day” schedule, so the next Weather Xtreme video will be produced by 3:30 or so this afternoon. Enjoy the day!
Category: Alabama's Weather
About the Author (Author Profile)
James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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