James Spann: Rain arrives in Alabama later today, colder air for the weekend
James Spann forecasts rain for Alabama today from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
RADAR CHECK: Most of Alabama is dry early this morning, but we note a band of rain and a few thunderstorms across the mid-South, over west Tennessee down into the Mississippi Delta region. This rain is along a cold front, and it will push into Alabama later this morning. Most of the rain today will come from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m.; amounts should be mostly one-half inch or less. Some thunder is certainly possible, if not likely, but no severe thunderstorms are expected today with the main dynamic support well to the north. The high this afternoon will be around 70 degrees.
Rain moves out of the state tonight, and the sky will clear as dry air moves back in. Friday will be sunny with a high in the mid 60s, very close to seasonal averages for mid-November.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: A secondary surge of colder air arrives Friday night, and the weekend will feature sunny, cool days and clear, cold nights. The high will be between 50 and 55 degrees Saturday, followed by mid 50s Sunday. Lows will be well down in the 30s, and many communities will see a freeze early Sunday morning, with a low between 27 and 34 degrees.
NEXT WEEK: The first half of the week will be dry with mostly sunny days; the highs will be in the upper 50s Monday, followed by 60s Tuesday and Wednesday. A cold front will bring rain back into the state by Thursday night and Friday morning.
TROPICS: A storm-force non-tropical area of low pressure about 900 miles east-northeast of Bermuda continues to produce a large area of showers that extend from the center northward along an associated frontal boundary. This system is moving northeastward, and it could still become a short-lived subtropical storm before it reaches cooler waters by this evening. By this weekend, the system is expected to be absorbed by a larger non-tropical low.
The rest of the Atlantic basin is quiet.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: For the high school playoff games Friday night, the sky will be clear with temperatures mostly in the 40s.
For the college games Saturday:
NEW MEXICO STATE AT ALABAMA (11 a.m. kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium): Expect a sunny sky with temperatures rising from near 48 at kickoff into the mid 50s by the second half.
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT AUBURN (11 a.m. kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium): With a sunny sky, temperatures will rise from 50 degrees at kickoff to near 56 by the final whistle.
MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE AT WEST ALABAMA (1 p.m. kickoff at Tiger Stadium): The sky will be sunny with temperatures in the 50s during the game.
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN AT MILLSAPS COLLEGE (1 p.m. kickoff at Jackson, Mississippi): A sunny day for the game with temperatures in the 50s.
SOUTH ALABAMA AT APPALACHIAN STATE (1:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Boone, North Carolina): Cold, dry weather. Despite a sunny sky, temperatures will be only in the low to mid 40s.
KENNESAW STATE AT NORTH ALABAMA (2 p.m. kickoff at Tom Braly Stadium): With a clear sky temperatures will drop from near 52 at kickoff into the 40s by the fourth quarter.
UAB AT MARSHALL (2:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Huntington, West Virginia): The weather will be dry and cold; a clear sky with temperatures in the 40s.
LOUISIANA AT TROY (2:30 p.m. kickoff at Veterans Memorial Stadium): The day will be cool and dry. With a clear sky, temperatures will fall from 58 degrees at kickoff to near 50 by the fourth quarter.
JACKSONVILLE STATE AT LAMAR (4 p.m. CT kickoff at Beaumont, Texas): The sky will be clear with temperatures falling from near 65 at kickoff into the 50s by the second half.
ON THIS DATE IN 1911: A powerful cold front, known as the Great Blue Norther of 1911, produced some of the most extreme temperature changes to the nation’s midsection. In association with this front some cities set both a record high and a record low in the same day. Temperature plunges that have never been recorded before or since shocked the people who were in the cold blast’s path.
Ahead of the cold front, a warm and moist environment caused a severe weather outbreak with several strong tornadoes reported in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. An estimated F4 tornado occurred from Janesville to Milton, Wisconsin, causing extensive damage to several farms and killing nine people. The residents of Janesville, Wisconsin, reported blizzard conditions with a temperature near zero within an hour of the tornado.
ON THIS DATE IN 1940: An Armistice Day storm raged across the Great Lakes region and the Upper Midwest. A blizzard left 49 dead in Minnesota, and gales on Lake Michigan caused shipwrecks resulting in 59 deaths. Up to 17 inches of snow fell in Iowa, and at Duluth, Minnesota, the barometric pressure reached 28.66 inches. The blizzard claimed a total of 154 lives and killed thousands of cattle in Iowa. Huge snowdrifts isolated whole towns.
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