RADAR CHECK: Scattered strong thunderstorms are over the southern half of Alabama this afternoon with little movement. One storm near Marbury prompted a severe thunderstorm warning at 2:45. Away from the storms, it is a hot September afternoon with temperatures mostly in the mid 90s. Scattered thunderstorms will end once the sun goes down.
REST OF THE WEEK: Don’t look for much change through Friday — partly to mostly sunny days, hot afternoons and only isolated showers and storms during the peak of the daytime heating process. Odds of any one spot getting wet each afternoon will remain in the 10-20% range as the upper ridge holds.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday will feature a good supply of sunshine with only a small risk of a shower and a high in the 90s. But on Sunday the ridge weakens, and scattered showers and storms should increase statewide. The high Sunday will drop into the upper 80s with a mix of sun and clouds.
NEXT WEEK: The air will be unstable, so at least for the first half of the week we will have scattered showers and storms daily with highs mostly in the mid to upper 80s.
TROPICS: The National Hurricane Center is monitoring three tropical waves in the Atlantic basin; for now they have only a low chance of development over the next five days. One is north of Hispaniola; it will move in the general direction of Florida later this week. The other two are lower-latitude waves in the central and eastern Atlantic.
Tropical Storm Gabrielle is in the North Atlantic, moving northeast, and is no threat to land.
ON THIS DATE IN 1965: Hurricane Betsy slammed into New Orleans on the evening of Sept. 9, 1965, with reports of 110 mph winds and power failures. The eye of the storm passed southwest of New Orleans on a northwesterly track. The northern and western eyewalls covered southeast Louisiana and the New Orleans area from about 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. In Thibodaux, winds of 130 mph to 140 mph were reported. The Baton Rouge weather bureau operated under auxiliary power, without telephone communication.
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