James Spann: A few widely scattered showers, storms for Alabama through midweek
RADAR CHECK: Showers are very hard to find on radar this afternoon; they are few and far between across Alabama. Otherwise, the sky is partly sunny with temperatures mostly in the mid 80s. We will maintain some risk of widely scattered showers and storms tonight and Wednesday as a weak surface front drifts down toward the Tennessee Valley, but many places will stay dry. Wednesday will feature a mix of sun and clouds with a high back in the mid 80s.
Thursday will be much the same — warm, humid and mostly dry, with only isolated afternoon showers. Afternoon temperatures will remain in the 80s.
FRIDAY: A cold front has potential to bring an organized band of showers and thunderstorms into the state during the day Friday. It won’t rain all day, but a few passing showers and storms are likely, and some of the storms could be strong, possibly severe. The Storm Prediction Center has parts of north and west Alabama in a marginal risk in its outlook that runs through 7 a.m. Friday, but for now a risk has not been defined for the daytime Friday due to forecast uncertainty.
Storms on Friday will be capable of producing strong winds and hail; for now the tornado threat looks very low. The better chance of thunderstorms will shift into south Alabama by mid to late afternoon as the front pushes deeper into the state; rain will end statewide Friday night. The high will be close to 80 degrees.
MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND: Dry air settles into the state Friday night following the frontal passage, and the weekend will feature sunny days and fair nights. The high will be between 77 and 81 degrees Saturday, followed by mid 80s Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: A strong upper ridge builds over the Deep South, and much of the week looks dry. Temperatures could very well touch 90 degrees by midweek under the ridge, our hottest weather so far this year.
ON THIS DATE IN 1999: There were 63 tornadoes in Oklahoma, making this the worst outbreak ever to strike the state. In central Oklahoma alone, eight individual supercell thunderstorms produced 57 tornadoes. Bridge Creek, Moore and southern parts of the Oklahoma City metro area were hit the hardest. When it was near Moore, Oklahoma, a truck-mounted Doppler radar measured a wind speed of 318 mph, the highest ever observed in a tornado. This tornado killed 36 people. To the north in Kansas, an F4 tornado tracked 24 miles through Sumner and Sedgwick counties, killing six, injuring 154 and causing $146 million in damages.
ON THIS DATE IN 2009: A derecho moved across central Alabama, producing widespread and long-lived straight-line wind damage (associated with a fast-moving squall line). There was significant damage in several counties from the Mississippi state line to the Georgia state line.
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