Published On: 10.04.22 | 

By: James Spann

James Spann: Warm afternoons, pleasant nights for Alabama

A message from James Spann from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

BLUE SKY AND SUNSHINE: Alabama’s long dry spell continues through the weekend with sunny days and clear nights. Afternoon highs will be in the low 80s through Friday, but a dry cold front will bring an air-mass change for the weekend. Highs drop into the low to mid 70s Saturday and Sunday, with lows well down in the 40s by early Sunday morning. Colder pockets over north Alabama will likely visit the 30s for the first time this season by then.

NEXT WEEK: There’s still no sign of any rain for Alabama. Highs next week will be mostly in the 70s, with lows in the 50s. Long-range guidance suggests the next chance of some rain here will come in the Oct. 15-20 period, but of course at that range there is no guarantee. November marks the beginning of our tornado season (November through May), and frequent rain- and storm-producing systems will return then.Some notes on the dry conditions (based on data at Birmingham):

  • Today is the ninth consecutive day with no measurable rain.
  • Our last measurable rain was on Sept. 25, but the amount was only 0.03 inch.
  • We have gone without measurable rain on 23 of the last 24 days.
  • The last day with more than one-tenth of an inch of rain was Sept. 4, when the total was 1.55 inches.

TROPICS: A tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic has a high chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm over the next few days, but it will turn northward, and unfavorable environmental conditions will mean the system will likely dissipate this weekend far from land.

The National Hurricane Center is also monitoring a tropical wave a few hundred miles east of the southern Windward Islands. It is producing disorganized showers and
thunderstorms. Some slow development of this system is possible during the next several days while the wave moves generally westward at 15 to 20 mph, reaching the Windward Islands and the eastern Caribbean Sea by midweek and the western Caribbean over the weekend. For now there is only a 30% chance of development over the next five days.

If anything develops in this region, global models move it generally westward toward Central America, but it is too early to know the final destination or intensity. It’s just something to watch for now.ON THIS DATE IN 1957: The world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was launched by the Soviet Union. Sputnik was about the size of a beach ball and weighed 183.9 pounds. It took about 98 minutes to orbit Earth on an elliptical path.

ON THIS DATE IN 2005: Hurricane Stan, a minimal Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph maximum sustained surface winds, made landfall near Punta Roca Partida, Mexico, at 4 a.m. EDT. While not a particularly strong hurricane, the torrential rains caused flooding and landslides, which resulted in 1,513 deaths in Guatemala.

BEACH FORECAST: Click here to see the AlabamaWx Beach Forecast Center page.

For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.