James Spann: Drier air rolls into Alabama over the weekend

Published On: 07.28.17 |

By: James Spann

James Spann: Drier air rolls into Alabama over the weekend

RADAR CHECK: We have patches of mostly light rain on radar at midafternoon; the large rain mass that moved across north Alabama earlier today is now in Georgia. There’s very little lightning showing up as well.

With a rather rare midsummer surface front due in here tonight, the National Weather Service is going to continue the flash flood watch for the northern half of the state through midnight, since a few thunderstorms could form over the next six to eight hours. And the Storm Prediction Center has roughly the northern two-thirds of the state in a “marginal risk” of severe weather; a few of the storms could produce strong, gusty winds. But, the air over north Alabama is mostly stable and rain-cooled, so the overall severe weather threat looks very low for now.

THE WEEKEND: The front will drop down to near U.S. 80 tomorrow morning; showers and storms will be confined to the far southern counties of the state as drier air works into north and central Alabama. For places like Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Anniston and Gadsden, morning clouds will give way to a sunny afternoon with a high between between 85 and 88. Then, on Sunday, look for mostly sunny and less humid weather with a high in the upper 80s.

NEXT WEEK: The weather looks very quiet for the first half of the week — mostly sunny days and fair nights with few, if any, showers Monday through Wednesday. Looks like showers and storms will return on Friday with another upper trough forming over the eastern third of the nation.