James Spann sees rain chances rising in the Alabama weekend forecast from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
WET AT TIMES: We begin this day with a good supply of sunshine this morning, but developing showers and thunderstorms are a good possibility this afternoon and tonight as a surface front approaches Alabama from the north. The chance of any one spot getting wet later today and tonight is about 50/50, and the high this afternoon will be pretty close to 90 degrees.
The front becomes stationary near the Alabama/Tennessee state line over the weekend, which will keep our weather a bit unsettled. The sky will be occasionally cloudy, and we expect scattered to numerous showers and storms both days. With only a limited amount of sun, heat levels will come down, with highs mostly in the 80s.
NEXT WEEK: The front will slowly dissipate early in the week, but sufficient moisture and instability will stay in place for at least scattered showers and thunderstorms Monday through Wednesday. Each day will feature a mix of sun and clouds, and afternoon highs will be near 90 degrees. Showers and storms could be a little fewer in number by Thursday and Friday as an upper high strengthens.
BERYL BECOMES A HURRICANE: We now have the first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic, between the Lesser Antilles and Africa. Beryl is packing winds (satellite estimated) at 75 mph, and is moving quickly to the west/northwest. The system will encounter strong winds aloft over the weekend, and rapid weakening is likely. The National Hurricane Center expects the system to degenerate into an open wave as it nears the Leeward/Windward Islands Sunday night. No threat to the U.S.
Elsewhere in the tropics, another disturbance is being monitored off the U.S. East Coast. This could show some slow development in coming days; the Global Forecast System in fact suggests it could become a tropical storm just offshore by early next week. One way or another, there will be no impact to Alabama. The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.
BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.
WEATHER BRAINS: You can listen to our weekly 90-minute netcast any time 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 the major social networks:
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Pinterest
Snapchat: spannwx
For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.