By james art James Spahn: Afternoons stay warm; rain for northwest alabama thursday night friday
DRY DAYS: For Birmingham and a good chunk of Alabama, today will be the 31st day in a row without rain as a long dry spell continues. With good sunshine, we forecast high temperatures between 77 and 82 degrees this afternoon. The average high for Birmingham on October 29 is 71.
Wednesday will be another dry day, although a few isolated showers may appear over the southwestern corner of the state as moisture levels begin to rise.
THURSDAY/FRIDAY: A surface front will bring a chance of showers to northwest Alabama Thursday night into Friday. The best chance for measurable rain will be in areas north and west of Birmingham; about an inch and a half is expected around the Shoals. Unfortunately, from Birmingham south and east rain will be almost impossible to find. 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 inconsistent on the chance of rain next week; 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 later this week or into the weekend as the system begins to move north or northeast toward the central Caribbean Sea.
The National Hurricane Center gives a 40 percent chance of development over the next seven days; global models are not particularly optimistic for any development so far. If anything does form, the upper air pattern suggests it will stay east of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.
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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