WBRC Weather

Forecast Update: A Few Snowflakes Possible In Parts of The Area Tonight

(RPM Model continues to advertise flurries or snow showers for far northern locations between 1-4 a.m.)

Winter is certainly back and tonight the chill will be in the air, with lows at or below freezing. Another cold front is on the way and this will bring breezy conditions tonight. We don’t expect a repeat of last night as wind speeds will be a bit lower.  Another point of interest is that there may be enough moisture to produce some snow showers to the north. After midnight clouds will increase and the chance for a few snow showers will exist in far northern locations like northern Cullman, Etowah, Blount, and Cherokee counties. We expect very little precipitation so no icy problems are expected.  

You can expect a reinforcing shot of cold air for tomorrow, with highs struggling to reach the middle 40s. The sun will return tomorrow with more clouds entering the mix on Saturday. A second front will be moving our way on Saturday and there is a chance a few rain showers may develop. This will be another moisture starved system so very little precipitation is expected. Rain chances at this time remain at 20%. Sunshine will return on Sunday, with highs in the 50s. 

Next Week

An upper level trough over the eastern United States has us back in winter mode. This will help keep our temperatures on the cold side through the weekend. By Monday this trough will begin to lift out of the region, with a milder flow taking over. Highs by Monday will rebound into the 50s, with bright weather for the start of next week. A few showers may develop on Tuesday as another front moves into the state. For now this looks like another moisture starved system. 

(GFS Model Upper Air (500 MB) Forecast Wednesday, February 6th.)

Long range data suggests the upper air pattern will become more west to southwest oriented later in the week. This setup will bring lots of clouds for the second half of next week, with greater chance for rainy weather on Thursday and Friday.

Fox6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt
wwyatt@wbrc.com
Twitter @weswyattweather
Facebook.com/weswyattfox6

Much Cooler Air

Sooooo, yesterday morning we had temps in the low 70s...fast forward to this AM and it's 29-degrees in Cullman, 28 in Haleyville, 30 in Gadsden, 30 in Jasper, 32 in Asville, 34 in Birmingham...you get the idea, a 40-degree temperature shift in just 24-hours.  Wow!

Look for highs near 50-degrees this afternoon with mostly sunny skies.
Tonight we are looking at partly cloudy skies, lows near 30 with a slight chance of snow flurries into northeast Alabama.

Another cold front (a dry one this time) is expected to bring cooler air for tomorrow...mostly clear in the low 40s...lows in the upper 20s.

Saturday night we have a very slight chance of showers.

Other than that we are expecting dry weather for much of the next 7-days.

Mickey Ferguson, FOX6 Weather

11 AM UPDATE: Severe Storms Shift East; Flash Flooding Warnings Issued

We're continuing to track  severe thunderstorms  over portions of Clay and Tallapoosa counties. A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for northwest Tallapoosa county and Eastern Clay counties through 11:30 a.m. Also a severe thunderstorm warning is in place for southwest Tallapoosa county. This storm is impacting the Lake Martin area and the warning is set to expire at 11:30 a.m.

The tornado watch has been canceled for a good portion of central and western Alabama. The watch will continue to be trimmed away from west to east throughout the rest of the day, with rain slowly tapering off. Flash flooding is taking place in parts of Jefferson, Talladega, Clay, Calhoun, and Cleburne Counties. Stay tuned to Fox 6 for continuing weather updates.

Fox6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt
wwyatt@wbrc.com
Twitter @weswyattweather
Facebook.com/weswyattfox6

Severe weather update 652 am

The main squall line is finally moving through central Alabama.  However, the wind shear remains high, and we still have a tornado warning for Cullman county until 700 am, and a severe thunderstorm warning for Tuscaloosa county.  The Tuscaloosa storm has some rotation, and NWS is watching it.  The storms should move through Jefferson County between 730 and 900 am.

Dr. Tim Coleman

Severe weather update

We commented earlier about our surprise that  the tornadoes had mainly beenin Tennessee, despite the wind shear and instability in Alabama.  We have only had one tornado warning in the Channel 6 area, but the storms over Alabama out ahead of the main line have intensified in the past hour, and wind damage may occur in parts of Tuscaloosa, Walker,, Fayette, Winston, Cullman, and Talladega counties in the next hour.I

Tornado warning Chilton County

Severe Thunderstorm Impacting Lamar/Marion Counties

The first warnings of the morning, at-least in our area, have been issued. A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for Lamar and Marion counties through 5:15 a.m. Damaging straight-line winds possible but there is also some rotation showing up on VIPIR near Sulligent. We will need to monitor this area closely.

Fox6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt
wwyatt@wbrc.com
Twitter @weswyattweather
Facebook.com/weswyattfox6

Strong winds

Radarindicated winds near 80 mph as the storms now moving into Marion and Lamar  counties came across.  There have been reports of wind damage out ahead of the line also.I

Severe weather analysis 419 am

...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 10 AM...

Even though counties roughly north and west of I-20/59 are under a tornado watch this morning, it appears the tornado probability has gone down some in the past couple of hours here in central Alabama.  Surprisingly, the tornado warnings, and the worst wind damage, has been in Tennessee and northern Mississippi over the past couple of hours.  Nashville had a wind gust to 65 mph, (an unconfirmed gust over 100 mph was received east of Nashville), and structural damage has been reported in parts of Tennessee.

Radar shows that the storms on the northern end of the line, where the wind shear is much larger, appear to be stronger.

We know that wind shear can interact with storms to cause them to intensify, but normally it requires at least some instability to get the storms going.  There is plenty of wind shear in Tennessee, with helicity values over 700 m2/s2, but the instability is very weak, with CAPE only around 100 J/kg (it normally takes at least 500 J/kg even with wind shear).

Here in Alabama, scattered showers have developed out ahead of the main line, and it seems that the best mixture of instability and shear is over central and south Alabama.  However, the storms there so far have remained weak.  The main line of storms is now in Mississippi, but the reports of wind damage in central and south Mississippi have decreased.

Don't let your guard down yet in Alabama.  We still have very warm, humid air in place, and some of these showers could intensify quickly into severe thunderstorms.  And, the main line of storms will still move through the Birmingham metro area by 9 am or a little after.

Dr. Tim Coleman

 

Tornado Watch for Fox 6 Viewing Area until 10am

While the tornado threat is modest at best with the line of storms moving in from Mississippi, it's still possible we could see a few tornadoes develop this morning.  The main line of storms will move into West Alabama by 4am and cross the I-65 corridor around 8am.  We expect the storms to be around the Anniston area at 10am.

The main threat is still winds in excess of 50mph.  At this point, most of the tornado activity has remained to our north.  Nashville has been dealing with numerous tornado warnings.

Updates every half hour here on Fox 6.

J-P Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
jdice@wbrc.coM
Twitter: @jpdice_Fox6