By james art James Spahn: Afternoons in Alabama remain warm, with scattered showers possible Wednesday
STILL DRY: Nothing on the radar this afternoon; skies are partly to mostly sunny in alabama with temperatures around the 80 degree mark. For Birmingham and a good chunk of Alabama, today is the 31st day in a row without rain as a long dry spell continues. Tonight will be mild with lows between 55 and 62 degrees.
Moisture levels will increase slightly on Wednesday and some of the high-resolution models suggest there could be a few small, brief isolated showers in Alabama. But the chances of any place seeing rain is only 10-15%. Otherwise, Wednesday will be partly sunny with a high near 80 degrees.
THURSDAY/FRIDAY: A surface front will bring a chance of showers to northwest Alabama Thursday night into Friday. The best chance of getting measurable rain will be north and west of Birmingham; about an inch and a half is expected around the Shoals. Unfortunately, from Birmingham south and east it will be almost impossible to find rain. Highs will be in the low 80s on Thursday, followed by the upper 70s on Friday.
WEEKEND AND NEXT WEEK: Dry weather is the story for the weekend and most of next week. Global models are conflicting about the chance of rain; recent tracks have given up on the idea of midweek wet weather.
TROPICS: A broad area of low pressure is likely to develop over the southwestern Caribbean Sea in a few days. After that, gradual development is possible and a tropical depression could form over the weekend as the system begins to move north or northeast toward the central Caribbean Sea.
The National Hurricane Center continues to give a 40 percent chance of development over the next seven days; global models are not particularly optimistic for any development so far.
FOOTBALL TIME: A few isolated showers over the northern third of Alabama can’t be ruled out for Friday night’s high school games, but most ballparks will be dry with temperatures dropping into the 70s, reaching the 60s by the fourth quarter.
Jacksonville State will host Liberty Wednesday (6 p.m. CT start) in Lynchburg; skies will be clear with temperatures falling into the 60s.
Saturday Auburn hosts Vanderbilt at Jordan-Hare Stadium (11:45 a.m. kickoff). Expect good sunshine with temperatures rising from near 78 in the early to low 80s in the second half.
UAB will host Tulsa at Protective Stadium in downtown Birmingham (1:30 p.m. kickoff). Skies will be mostly sunny with temperatures around 80 degrees during the game.
Troy will host Coastal Carolina (3 p.m. kickoff); it will be a sunny saturday with temperatures dropping from near 82 early to the 70s by the fourth quarter.
ON THIS DATE IN 1948: A historic smog event occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania. The smog killed 20 people and sickened another 7,000.
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