Overnight Storms Move West

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NOISY STORMS MOVE OUT: The overnight mass of storms that moved through Alabama is now mostly in Mississippi; the storms produced gusty winds, heavy rain, and lots of lightning as they moved through our state around the bottom of the heat bubble that centered to the north. The clockwise circulation around the upper high is the reason the storms are moving from west to east; something that happens fairly often during the summer months in Alabama, especially July and August. It is a time of the year when the main mid-latitude westerlies (the jet stream) move up toward the Canadian border.

RAIN TOTALS: Some overnight amounts from our team of Skywatchers…

Bessemer 1.84″
Pleasant Grove 1.78″
Helena 0.00″ (no rain in the gauge of Brian Peters – just shows the great variability in these storms)

THE DAY AHEAD: The late night/pre-dawn storms have really worked the air over, and I am not sure we much rain later today. No doubt we still need to mention the risk of a few scattered storms this afternoon or early tonight, but the high resolution NAM (which did a very nice job on the storms last night) shows most dry conditions over our state, with most of the storms well to the west, near the Mississippi River this afternoon. We should reach the 90-93 degree range this afternoon. We should mention yesterday’s high in Birmingham was 93 degrees… only the second time we have reached 90 during the month of July.

TOMORROW AND THE WEEKEND: Expect standard summer weather, except temperatures will be a little below average. Mixed sun and clouds along the risk of of scattered showers and thunderstorms, with most of them coming during the afternoon and evening hours. The high will be in the 88-91 degree range for most communities around here.

NEXT WEEK: No real change at least for the first half of the week. The GFS is hinting an upper ridge might try and build in here from the west late in the week with rising heat levels and fewer showers and storms, but for now that is just speculation. See the Weather Xtreme video for the maps, graphics, and details.

TROPICS: Still very calm… tropical storm formation not expected this week across the Atlantic basin. Expect a pulse of increased action late in the month.

GULF COAST WEATHER: Not much change through the weekend; about 6 to 8 hours of sunshine each day with the usual risk of a passing shower or storm in scattered spots. Highs on the immediate coast will be in the upper 80s, with low 90s inland. The sea water temperature early this morning at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab is 83 degrees.

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NEED HELP WITH YOUR WEATHER RADIO? We will be at Rock Creek Pharmacy in western Jefferson County this evening from 3:30 until 6:30. We will program weather radios, and be glad to help in any way if you have questions.

I will be speaking at Bluff Park United Methodist Church this morning… look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 4:00 or so this afternoon. Enjoy the day…

Tags: humid

Category: Alabama's Weather