James Spann: Alabama stays warm through Friday; weekend cool-down ahead
WARM OCTOBER AFTERNOONS: Temperatures are mostly between 80 and 84 degrees across Alabama this afternoon with a partly sunny sky and a brisk south breeze. There is no rain on radar, but we will mention the chance of showers over the northwest corner of the state tonight as a cold front slowly approaches.
On Tuesday, look for a mix of sun and clouds with a few isolated showers over the northern half of the state ahead of the front that will stall out and dissipate just north of here. The chance of any one spot getting wet is only 10-20% and the high will be in the mid 80s.
Dry, warm weather is the story Wednesday and Thursday. The sky will be partly to mostly sunny both days with highs between 84 and 87 degrees.
FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: A sharp cold front will move through Alabama Saturday morning and bring a major weather change. Ahead of the front, a few showers are possible late Friday afternoon and Friday night. Moisture will be limited, so amounts should be fairly light (generally less than a quarter of an inch). Friday will be warm, with a high in the low to mid 80s.
Much cooler air will roll into Alabama Saturday, and we will mention a chance of showers in the cooler air, mainly during the morning. The high will be between 68 and 72 degrees over north and central Alabama, and with a clearing sky Saturday night we project a low in the 40s for most places early Sunday morning.
Sunday will be a picture-perfect autumn day with sunshine in full supply and a high in the low 70s.
NEXT WEEK: Global models continue to advertise a quiet, dry week with cool nights and very pleasant days. Highs will be in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
TROPICS: There are two weak, disorganized tropical waves this afternoon, one near the southern coast of Hispaniola and the other nearing the Windward Islands. Neither is expected to develop and the rest of the Atlantic basin is very quiet.
RAIN UPDATE: Here are rain totals so far this year, and the departure from average:
- Mobile — 73.86 inches (19.39 inches above average)
- Birmingham — 61.74 (16.48 above average)
- Tuscaloosa — 60.85 (19.41 above average)
- Huntsville — 56.92 (15.17 above average)
- Dothan — 54.92 (11.58 above average)
- Muscle Shoals — 53.33 (11.09 above average)
- Montgomery — 47.91 (7.46 above average)
- Anniston — 40.21 (0.54 below average)
ON THIS DATE IN 1906: Games 1 and 2 of the all Chicago World Series were played amid snow flurries. Snow would not happen again in a World Series until 1997. The high temperature for game 3, played on this day, was 43 degrees.
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