James Spann: Alabama moisture levels creep up in coming days

James Spann: Typical summer weather in Alabama for the next 5 to 7 days from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
THIS MORNING: Dry air still covers the northern third of Alabama; temperatures are in the low to mid 60s across the cooler pockets with a clear sky. But higher dew points south of I-20 will creep northward today along with rising humidity levels. Still, the best chance of a passing shower or storm today will be south of I-20, and even there the activity should be pretty widely scattered this afternoon and early tonight. Communities north of I-20 should remain dry today; the high should be generally in the low 90s.
TOMORROW THROUGH FRIDAY: Moisture levels will continue to slowly rise, and we are projecting some very routine midsummer weather — hot, humid days with a mix of sun and clouds, and scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. The chance of any one spot getting wet is around 30 percent tomorrow, rising into the 40 to 50 percent range Thursday and Friday. Most of the showers and storms will come from about 2 until 9 p.m. Afternoon highs will be between 90 and 93 degrees for most communities. Higher dew points will make the heat more uncomfortable.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: No real change. Most of the sunshine Saturday and Sunday will come during the morning hours, and most of the showers and storms will come later in the day, during the peak of the daytime heating process. Storms will tend to be random and scattered; there’s no way of knowing in advance exactly when and where they pop up. Highs will be close to 90 degrees.
NEXT WEEK: The Global Forecast System model continues to suggest that drier air will creep southward into the northern half of Alabama early in the week with fewer showers and slightly lower humidity levels, but we will believe it when we see it since surface fronts rarely make it that far south in mid-July.
TROPICS: We are watching a weak wave in the eastern Atlantic, and the remnants of Tropical Depression 4 northeast of Puerto Rico, but environmental conditions don’t favor development in those regions, and tropical storm formation is not expected over the next five days.
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