James Spann: Warm afternoons ahead for Alabama
James Spann forecasts rising temperatures for Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
RADAR CHECK: We actually had a few “illegal” patches of light rain overnight in a few places across Alabama (rain that was not forecast), but that is fading fast this morning as an upper high builds over the region. Look for a partly sunny sky today with a high in the low 80s; the average high for Birmingham on April 21 is 76.
Dry weather continues Friday through the weekend with mostly sunny days, fair nights and highs between 82 and 85 degrees. It will be the warmest weekend so far this year.
NEXT WEEK: A cold front with very limited dynamic support will bring a few showers to the state Monday night and Tuesday of next week, but rain amounts should be one-tenth of an inch or less for most communities. The weather will be dry Wednesday through Friday with highs between 78 and 82 degrees. There’s still no sign of any big rain event or severe weather in Alabama for the rest of April.
RACE WEEKEND: The weather will be warm and dry over the weekend at Talladega. For the Geico 500 Sunday, the sky will be partly to mostly sunny with temperatures between 82 and 85 degrees. Morning lows at the Superspeedway will be close to 60 degrees.
TORNADO COUNTS: The Birmingham National Weather Service reports 39 tornadoes in its county warning area since Jan. 1. In Mississippi, the tornado count for the year so far is 89; that state has already surpassed the total number of tornadoes for every year except 2019, 2008, 2005 and 2011.
ON THIS DATE IN 1967: Severe thunderstorms spawned 48 tornadoes in the Upper Midwest. Hardest hit was northern Illinois, where 16 tornadoes touched down during the afternoon and evening, causing $50 million damage. On that Friday afternoon, tornadoes struck Belvidere, Illinois, and the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, killing 58 people.
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