Brian Peters: Day after the storm will be clear and cold in Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
STAY OFF THE ROADS: The effects of yesterday’s snow and sleet continue into this morning. At this writing, do not plan to get out in Central Alabama until the early afternoon. Roads are a mess and, with the cold air in place, are likely to stay that way for several more hours.
TODAY: The sky is clear across Central Alabama with a stiff north wind and temperatures in the teens. Just before 8 a.m., Anniston was the warm spot at 20 degrees. Not many days in the Southeast you can say 20 is warm! Cold air advection will keep temperatures in check, with highs not expected to get out of the 20s. Want something above the freezing mark? You’ll need to go south, but even in South Alabama readings are not expected to get out of the 30s.
Numerous watches, warnings and advisories remain in place from East Texas to southern New England. The watch/warning map will be changing throughout the day as precipitation comes to an end, but those issuances may be swapped to extreme cold advisories.
TOMORROW: The upper trough makes it way into the Atlantic Sunday, keeping the strong northwesterly flow in place over the eastern half of the country. The surface high will settle into the Southeast on Sunday morning, so look for morning lows then to be in the range of 10 to 15 degrees. This will definitely be the coldest temperatures we’ve seen in quite some time.
NEXT WEEK: The upper ridge begins to come our way Monday and gets here Tuesday. That should warm us up nicely, with upper 40s Monday and upper 50s Tuesday. A storm system moving through the Great Lakes Tuesday and into eastern Canada Wednesday will drag a cold front into the Southeast. The front won’t make much headway south as it becomes parallel to the flow aloft. Looks right now like the best chance for rain should come Tuesday night and Wednesday as the front stalls out across the northern half of Alabama. Don’t worry; temperatures should be warmed up enough to eliminate the risk of any wintry precipitation, with highs in the 60s Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday the weather should be mild, and the Global Forecast System MOS guidance for Birmingham even prints out 71 degrees for Thursday. Rainfall through Thursday morning is likely to be the best over the northern half of Alabama, but amounts won’t be particularly stellar, with values from Tuesday through Thursday morning at a half-inch or less. We’ll take what we can get, since every little bit helps.
A strong upper trough comes out across the Central Rockies on Friday, with the trough axis situated over Oklahoma on Saturday. This will spell another round of wet weather for us. We’re likely to start next Saturday out dry but see it turn wet later in the day, along with a wet Sunday. Highs should be in the 60s.
Have a great day, stay warm and be safe in whatever travel you must do.
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