After Today, Improving Weather
Little change in the forecast today as the center of the remnants of Harvey remain to the west, keeping Alabama’s weather unsettled. For today, expect mainly cloudy conditions and periods of rain with a few embedded thunderstorms. Once again, a few brief spin-up tornadoes will be possible throughout the day, especially after the late morning hours. Some localized flash flooding will be possible again, especially in poor drainage areas. Highs are expected to be in the lower to mid-80s, but I believe a few spots with heavier rain will be held back in the 70s.
FOR FRIDAY: Good news in the forecast as the end of the week and into the weekend are going to be drier and brighter. The weather pattern over the country will cause Harvey to quickly move off to the northeast and the moisture will be pulling out as well. A good bit of the day should be dry with increasing amounts of sunshine throughout the day. We could still have a few showers to wrap around the southern side of the center of circulation that could move mainly through the northern half of the area. Afternoon highs will range throughout the 80s.
IN THE TROPICS: Irma has developed well out in the Atlantic. No threat to land over the next seven days, and still plenty of time to watch this system, but just know we are going to be talking about it a lot over the next week of two. At 500 AM AST the center of Tropical Storm Irma was located near latitude 16.5 North, longitude 32.9 West. Irma is moving toward the west near 12 mph. A west-northwestward motion is expected today and tonight, followed by a generally westward motion on Friday. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 70 mph with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast, and Irma is likely to become a hurricane later today. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the center. The estimated minimum central pressure is 997 mb (29.44 inches).
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN THE OFFING: A canyon-shaped hole has opened in the sun’s atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of high-speed solar wind toward Earth. NOAA forecasters say there is a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms (G1-class) when the gaseous material reaches our planet on August 31st. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras this Thursday and Friday.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: With a drier air mass set to settle into the state, we are forecasting a mainly sunny and likely rain-free weekend for Alabama and much of the Deep South. The days should feature plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures while nights should be fair and pleasant. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: Mostly fair for the high school games Friday night with temperatures falling through the 70s.
Alabama travels to Atlanta to take on Florida State Saturday (7:00 p.m. CT kickoff on ABC Montgomery); the game will be played in the new Mercedes-Benz stadium indoors. Outside, it now looks like the weather will be dry Saturday and Saturday night.. temperatures will reach the low to mid 80s in Atlanta Saturday afternoon.
Auburn will host Georgia Southern Saturday evening at Jordan-Hare Stadium (6:30p CT kickoff)… we now project a mostly fair sky.. the kickoff temperature will be near 80 degrees, falling into the mid 70s by the final whistle.
Stay weather aware today!
Ryan
