James Spann has the Alabama forecast heading into the weekend from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
MUGGY DAYS: An upper high will rebuild over Alabama during the next 48 hours, meaning hot, humid weather today and tomorrow with afternoon highs close to 90 degrees; the average high for today in Birmingham is 88, so this kind of heat is only slightly above average for early September. The sky will be partly sunny, and while a few afternoon showers could pop up, they will be widely spaced. The chance of any one spot getting wet is only in the 10 to 20 percent range.
Scattered storms will increase over north Alabama Sunday as a surface front drifts down into Tennessee; the high Sunday will be back in the mid to upper 80s with only a limited amount of sun.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the high school games tonight, there will be just a small risk of a shower during the first half; otherwise it should be mostly fair and very warm, with temperatures falling though the 80s during the games.
Alabama hosts Arkansas State Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa at Bryant-Denny Stadium (2:30 p.m. kickoff); the sky will be partly to mostly sunny with just a small risk of a shower during the game. It will be a hot and humid day. The kickoff temperature will be close to 90 degrees, falling back into the 80s by the fourth quarter.
Auburn will host Alabama State Saturday evening at Jordan-Hare Stadium (6:30 p.m. kickoff). The sky will be mostly fair with only a slight risk of a shower during the first half. Temperatures will fall from near 86 at kickoff into the upper 70s by the final whistle.
UAB travels to Conway, South Carolina, to take on Coastal Carolina Saturday evening (6 p.m. kickoff). A shower or storm is possible during the first half of the game; otherwise it will be warm and humid, with temperatures falling through the 80s during the game.
NEXT WEEK: The first half of the week looks rather unsettled as the surface front to the north stalls out near the Alabama/Tennessee state line. We are forecasting scattered to numerous showers and storms Monday through Wednesday with highs in the mid 80s. We trend drier Thursday and Friday with showers becoming fewer in number.
TROPICS: Florence weakened to a tropical storm last night in the Atlantic; it is now packing sustained winds of 65 mph. But conditions will change and favor strengthening in coming days, and the system is expected to regain hurricane status over the weekend. By the middle of next week, it is expected to be a category three hurricane southeast of Bermuda.
From there, it could move into the East Coast of the U.S. next week — sideswipe the coast, staying just offshore, or recurve well offshore. There is basically no skill in forecasting a specific track this far in advance, and it remains to be seen what impact, if any, Florence will have on the coast. But everyone living on the Atlantic coast will need to keep a close eye on the system.
And, deeper in the tropics, two well-organized waves are expected to become Tropical Storms Helene and Isaac in coming days. There’s no way of knowing whether these will impact any land mass at this point.
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