James Spann: Warm afternoons continue for Alabama, then a much cooler weekend
James Spann forecasts a warm, mostly dry work week for Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
HIGHS REMAIN IN THE 80s: An upper ridge will keep Alabama warm and mostly dry this week. The sky will be partly to mostly sunny today with a high between 82 and 85 degrees; the average high for Birmingham on Oct. 11 is 78. We will mention a chance of showers late tonight over the northwest corner of the state as a weakening front approaches, but rain amounts will be light and spotty.
REST OF THE WEEK: Tuesday will be another warm day with a mix of sun and clouds; a few isolated showers are possible during the day south of the front, which will stall out north of here and dissipate. The chance of any one spot seeing a shower is only 10-20%, and the high will be in the mid 80s.
The weather will be dry Wednesday and Thursday; the sky will be mostly sunny both days with highs in the mid 80s. The day Friday will be warm and dry, but a cold front will bring a chance of showers to the state late Friday night, generally after midnight.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Saturday will be noticeably cooler as the front passes through the state, and some light rain is likely at times, especially during the morning. The high will drop into the 69- to 72-degree range with a fresh north breeze. Sunday will be cool and dry with sunshine in full supply. Many north and central Alabama communities will dip into the 40s early Sunday morning, followed by a high in the low 70s. It will be a picture-perfect autumn day.
NEXT WEEK: The week looks generally cool and dry, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.
TROPICS: A nontropical low off the coast of North Carolina continues to produce some disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Although this system is not expected to become a tropical or subtropical cyclone, locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds are still possible over portions of the North Carolina Outer Banks today.
There are two disorganized tropical waves this morning, one over the eastern Caribbean and one in the central Atlantic. Both have only a low chance of development; the rest of the Atlantic basin, including the Gulf of Mexico, 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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