James Spann: Alabama dog days settle in for a while from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
SUN, HEAT, STORMS: Classic “dog day” weather will continue across Alabama through Friday; we will forecast a mix of sun and clouds each day with the usual daily round of scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Most of the storms will come from 1 until 8 p.m., and the chance of any one spot getting wet will stay in the 30 to 40 percent category. The storms that form will produce gusty winds, heavy rain and lots of lightning. Afternoon highs will be pretty close to 90 degrees. Just what you expect on an August day in our state.
THE WEEKEND: The Global Forecast System is hinting that the air could be a touch drier across the northern half of the state, and that showers will be fewer in number. The high Saturday and Sunday will be at or just over 90 degrees in most spots with a pretty decent amount of sun.
ECLIPSE WEATHER: Over north Alabama, Monday’s solar eclipse will run roughly from noon to 3 p.m., with the peak coming around 1:30. It looks like a routine summer day, meaning the sky should be partly sunny for most of those three hours with a field of scattered to broken cumulus clouds. A few scattered showers or storms will be possible, but there is no way of knowing in advance when and where they form. The bottom line is that you should be able to see most, if not all, of the eclipse.
Be sure you watch the eclipse safely with the right eyewear. Get more details here from NASA.
The rest of next week looks like we will deal with more typical August weather, with partly sunny days and scattered storms during the afternoon and evening hours.
TROPICS: Hurricane Gert is packing sustained winds of 90 mph this morning well east of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is moving east/northeast and is no threat to land.
In the tropical Atlantic we have three tropical waves to watch.
The lead wave is Invest 91L. It could develop slowly over the next five days, possibly reaching hurricane strength over the Caribbean. This one is expected to remain a low-latitude system, ultimately moving into Central America or the Yucatan Peninsula.
The next one is 92L; this one will gain some latitude and is expected to pass north of the Caribbean. It will be fighting some pretty harsh environmental conditions and any development will be slow.
The third wave will also move eastward with some potential for slow development.
Nothing threatening the Gulf of Mexico for at least the next five days.
BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.
WEATHER BRAINS: You can listen to our weekly 90-minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including meteorologists at ABC 33/40.
CONNECT: You can find me on all of the major social networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Instagram
Pinterest
Snapchat: spannwx
For more weather news and information, visit AlabamaWx.