James Spann: Occasional showers for Alabama today, then a beautiful holiday weekend ahead
James Spann forecasts a dry, pleasant weekend for most of Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
RADAR CHECK: We have large areas of light to moderate rain moving across Alabama this morning ahead of a rare July cold front just to the north. Today will be mostly cloudy with periods of rain and possibly a thunderstorm or two. Temperatures will likely hold in the 70s all day due to clouds and rain. The average high for Birmingham on July 2 is 90. Showers will end from north to south this evening as dry air begins to roll in.
FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND: Dry air will cover the northern two-thirds of the state; we expect mostly sunny days, cooler nights and lower humidity Saturday through Monday. Highs will be in the 80s, and many places over north and central Alabama could dip into the cool 50s early Sunday morning. A few scattered showers and storms will remain possible over far south Alabama and along the Gulf Coast over the weekend, but it won’t be a washout and there will be some sun at times.
NEXT WEEK: Moisture will slowly return, and we will bring back the risk of scattered showers and storms over the latter half of the week statewide. For now it looks like any impact from the tropical system will remain east of Alabama. Highs will be between 87 and 91 degrees most days.
HURRICANE ELSA: Elsa unexpectedly became a Category 1 hurricane this morning. Radar imagery from Barbados indicates that an eye seems to be forming with a partially closed eyewall observed.
Elsa is moving along at a very quick pace. The National Hurricane Center forecast track brings it across Cuba Sunday and to a point north of Tampa Bay, over the Florida peninsula, by Tuesday night of next week.
This forecast can and probably will change over the next few days. The average five-day NHC track error is around 200 miles. While it certainly looks like the Florida peninsula will be affected by Elsa, you simply can’t define those impacts this far out. Odds are increasing that Alabama and the central Gulf Coast (Gulf Shores, Pensacola, Destin, Panama City Beach) will be on the “good” west side of the system.
The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.
ON THIS DATE IN 2001: In Michigan, frost and freezing temperatures were observed in some locations, with Grant dropping to 29 degrees. Muskegon reported its coldest July temperature on record with 39 degrees. Other daily record lows included Lansing, 38; Muskegon, 39; Flint, 40; Youngstown, Ohio, 40; and Grand Rapids, 43 degrees.
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