TODAY: While the center of low pressure will be slowly moving across the Deep South today, we’ll be on the south side of the low that has been the drier side of the system for the past day. While we’ll continue to have a chance of showers for much of the area north of the I-85 corridor, the activity will be scattered and light. Rain chances throughout the daylight hours will range from 20 percent to just below 50 percent from south to north. Highs will top out in the lower to mid-50s. Tonight and through the overnight hours, much of the activity will have moved out of the area, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two light showers or sprinkles linger around after sunset. After that, we’ll dry out with mostly cloudy skies. Overnight lows drop into the mid-30s to the lower 40s.
SUNDAY: The low finally moves out of the area and we get a chance to dry out for several days. Skies will start off mostly cloudy, but slow clearing will occur and we’ll end up with partly cloudy skies by the late afternoon. Afternoon highs will be in the 50s.
MONDAY: The start of the work week will be a great one. We’ll have plenty of bright sunshine with only one or two passing clouds. Afternoon highs top out in the upper 50s to the lower 60s.
TUESDAY: This will be a great weather day across Alabama as the closest organized precipitation to us will be up in the Pacific Northwest. We’ll have plenty of sunshine with just a few passing clouds, and afternoon highs will be in the mid-50s to the lower 60s.
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday will be another nice day. Skies will be mostly clear throughout the day, but clouds will start to move into the area from the west during the late afternoon and into the evening hours. We expect no rain at this point as shower chances hold off until early Thursday. Afternoon highs will be in the upper 50s to the lower 60s.
THURSDAY: A disturbance will move into central Alabama before sunrise on Thursday that will bring us our next shot at rain. Showers at this point look to be scattered, but we’ll have a decent chance of rain throughout the entire day and well into the evening and late night. Rainfall amounts will be around a quarter-inch for the entire day and afternoon highs will top out in the mid-50s to the lower 60s.
FRIDAY: The system lifts out of the area and moves up the Atlantic states as the low deepens. We’ll have some wrap-around precipitation on the backside of the low during the morning and into the early afternoon. The Global Forecast System is painting the possibility of some snow flurries at the end, but I am having a hard time believing that, as daytime highs will be in the upper 40s to the mid-50s.
VOODOO LAND: As we are now 10 days away from Christmas Day, we are getting closer to having a good idea what to expect. Christmas Eve looks to be a nice day, but we may have to deal with a brief period of showers on the late morning through the afternoon on Christmas Day. Both days at this point look to be really cool, with highs near 50 degrees and lows in the mid-30s.
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ON THIS DAY IN WEATHER HISTORY: On Dec. 15, 2005, freezing rain and ice pellets fell throughout portions of the Southeast. The accumulation of ice caused about 683,000 utilities customers to lose power from northern Georgia northward through the western Carolinas. The power outages were the result of ice accretions of up to three-quarters of an inch in thickness. The ice storm was blamed for at least four deaths.
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