WBRC Weather

Forecast Update

It looks like the really crazy weather today was in Central Florida.  Reports of 90mph winds at the Kennedy Space Center and reports of several confirmed tornadoes.  As for us, an upper-level disturbance is producing a showers across the region.  Temperatures tonight will fall in the mid 40s.  Expect some clearing by Friday afternoon with temperatures in the lower 60s.

The weekend looks stellar with highs in the lower 70s Saturday and highs around 80 Sunday.  We're still watching for a significant severe weather threat late Monday into Tuesday.  This system could produce some tornadic storms.  Stay weather aware as we get closer to Monday.

James-Paul Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
james.dice@wbrc.com

Mostly Cloudy, Cool

Mostly cloudy and cool for much of north Alabama today.  Highs close to 56-degrees.  Tonight:  A chance of light showers or drizzle with lows in the mid-40s.   Friday brings a 20% chance of rain (primarily drizzle in the morning hours).  Saturday and Sunday should be gorgeous with mostly sunny skies and highs in the 70s to low 80s.  Monday night into Tuesday morning of next week brings our next chance of strong to severe storms.

Here's the extended forecast:  

Early Week Severe

The cloudy skies and cool temperatures will give way to some much warmer and drier weather over the weekend.  Expect highs by the end of the weekend to approach 80 degrees.  Moisture will stream in ahead of a cold front Sunday and Monday.  This is going to increase our instability quite a bit.  Winds at around 5,000ft are expected to increase to around 50-60kts by Monday.  This will provide for substantial wind shear.  The Storm Prediction Center is already forecasting significant severe storms late Monday and perhaps into Tuesday.  It does appear that tornadoes and high winds are in the forecast.

Attached is the 850winds for Monday from the GFS as well as the precipitation rate for Tuesday morning.

 
 
James-Paul Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
james.dice@wbrc.com

Wednesday Evening Forecast Discussion

 
We’re dealing with some gloomy weather out there this afternoon, with lots of clouds and patchy drizzle. The very light precipitation will continue into the early evening hours tonight as an upper air trough digs into the southeastern United States. Temperatures will fall into the 40s tonight and with clouds overhead, we should bottom out around 45-degrees. Hopefully we will catch a few rays of sun tomorrow; however, the clouds will have a tough time trying to break. Another disturbance will ride in from the northwest and help to spark some additional rainfall activity tomorrow, mainly later in the day. Look for spotty showers through tomorrow night and early Friday morning. Highs tomorrow will reach the 60s, with lows in the 40s tomorrow night.

The good news is that our weekend forecast looks fabulous!  Highs for Saturday and Sunday will reach the 70s, with lots of sunshine. Some clouds will roll in later on Sunday and this will be in advance of another rain maker. Models suggest Monday night could get a bit rocky around here as another front drops into Alabama. Rain and thunderstorms will be possible Monday night and early on Tuesday. At this stage in the game I can’t rule out the possibility of stronger storms Monday Night and early Tuesday. Speaking of storms, the weather team has been in Chelsea today programming NOAA Weather Radios. We will be there through 7:00 p.m. tonight at the Walgreen’s in Chelsea. Be sure to stop by and we can help you with the programmable S.A.M.E. technology radios that only alert for specific counties. Have a great evening!   

Wes Wyatt

Fox 6 Meteorologist

wwyatt@wbrc.com

 

Pesky Clouds

After some morning thunderstorms, clouds are lingering out there this morning.  We could briefly see the clouds part this afternoon to reveal a bit of sunshine before the skies are expected to become overcast again by this evening.  Highs today should make it into the mid 60s.  Lows tonight in the low 40s.  Thursday could likely bring some patchy drizzle, followed by a chance of showers on Friday.  The weekend, however, looks wonderfull with mostly clear skies and warmer air.

Mickey Ferguson, FOX6 Weather

 

More Rain & Thunderstorms Tonight

Get ready for more thunderstorms tonight!  A strong low pressure wave will track across Alabama during the early morning hours and storms are already breaking out over Mississippi as forcing associated with this low approaches. Some severe thunderstorms warnings have popped up over Neshoba and Leake counties in Mississippi and this clustering of storms is lifting northeast towards West Alabama. If these storms do remain severe this will be one of those setups in which the main threat will be large hail and high straight-line winds. We’re probably going to hear quite a bit of thunder over parts of our area later tonight. We will keep a close eye on the setup and Chief Meteorologist J-P Dice will have a full update during the 9:00 and 10:00 news.

Wes Wyatt 

Fox 6 Meteorologist 

wwyatt@wbrc.com

 

Viewer Pictures Keep Rolling In

 
At last check we had a temperature of 53-degrees on Red Mountain, with a chilly easterly breeze. It looks like some more rain and storms will roll our way later tomorrow and some storms may bring the threat of hail tomorrow night. Check out the SPC storm report summary from the weekend. The included graphic shows over 150 reports of hail across the region. I know we have lots of viewers pictures over on our video/picture gallery site, share.myfoxal.com. The one image I have included was sent in just yesterday from Fox 6 viewer Shane Kohn in Verbena. This show hail covering the road at 10:30 a.m.

 

I will be in for J-P tonight starting at 9:00 p.m. Be sure to join us for a 90 minute news block. We will have much more on the storm potential for the rest of this week.

Wes Wyatt

Fox 6 Meteorologist

wwyatt@wbrc.com

 

FORECAST UPDATE - ANOTHER ROUND OF STORMS.

 
We didn't see any sunshine today with low level cloudiness and cool temperatures around the region.  Highs today only reach the upper 50s.  The official high at the Birmingham airport was 57 degrees.  We will see some partial clearing tonight with lows in the mid 40s.

The weather pattern continues to remain unsettled.  Expect rain and storms to return to the forecast late Tuesday into Wednesday.  Some storms could be strong - mainly to our north with the primary threat gusty winds and large hail.  We will have to monitor the weather closely from 4pm Tuesday through 9am Wednesday.

Forecast confidence beyond Wednesday is a bit low.  Still looks like we'll see some additional showers and storms late week.  Forecast models differ at this point regarding the weekend.  At this point, I'm staying with dry conditions for Saturday and Sunday.  But - there are some hints that a shower or two may be in our future for the weekend.  We'll keep you posted.

James-Paul Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
james.dice@wbrc.com

Decreasing Clouds

After some morning showers have pushed through, expect decreasing clouds for this afternoon, highs in the mid to upper 60s and north winds at 5-10.  Tonight should see clouds increase again with lows in the mid 40s.  Tuesday only brings a 10-percent chance of showers.  Our next best chance of rain and thunderstorms comes Wednesday morning. 

For more on the forecast including this weekend's weather, click here:  WBRC WEATHER

A Look Back At The Weekend Storms

We want to thank all of our wonderful viewers once again for being a part of the Storm Warn team. Saturday was most certainly a busy day for us with numerous tornado warnings across the area. We received several images of hail and low cloud bases. This is one of our most impressive pics from the weekend that was taken by Lori Jones her husband in Bibb County, around 4:20 Saturday afternoon.

Lori writes: "This was the funnel cloud that at first was reported in Bibb Co then around 4:20 my husband reported the rotation and all of the sudden the funnel dropped....never could we see it touch the ground so we can't confirm a tornado, we reported the uprooted trees to the NWS so likely they will survey....we were at the Chevron on Hwy 25 outside Calera ..."

We want to thank all of our trained spotters for what they do in helping to provide some ground reference data during severe weather events. Be sure to visit our huge picture and video archive page tellfox.com for more scenes from across West, Central, and East Alabama.

Wes Wyatt

Fox 6 Weather

wwyatt@wbrc.com