Hot and Humid with Scattered Showers and Storms
ANOTHER HOT DAY: The upper ridge overhead begins to breakdown today, but still temps will be hot with lower and mid 90s for most places this afternoon. Showers and storms will once again start developing through the afternoon with intense rainfall and frequent lightning and meander about the Alabama landscape until the evening hours.
USA BRIEF: Hurricane Hector is forecast to pass less than 200 miles south of the Big Island on Wednesday. High Surf and, potentially, gusty winds can be expected. High pressure continues to produce significant heat in the west. Fire Weather threats and fire activity remains active, which is keeping the west smokey. Locally heavy rains are possible in the Southwest, and from the Plains to the Northeast.
PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from giant comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, parent of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower is not expected to peak until next weekend, NASA all-sky cameras are already detecting dozens of Perseid fireballs every night over the USA. This early activity may be a good omen for the nights ahead, especially Aug. 11th-13th when Earth is expected to pass through the densest part of the comet’s debris zone.
TOMORROW & FRIDAY: The upper-ridge weakens, and the air becomes more unstable as a weak surface front slowly approaches from the north. These days, showers and storms should become more numerous across Alabama with heat levels backing down. Highs will be in the lower 90s with scattered to numerous showers and storms, generally from 1PM until 10PM. But, we can’t totally rule out a late night or morning shower. The sky will be occasionally cloudy.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Not much change and we will continue to forecast a mix of sun and clouds Saturday and Sunday, with a scattered showers and storms likely, generally during the afternoon and evening hours. Afternoon highs will be in the upper 80s for most locations both days as well.
NEXT WEEK: Scattered storms remain possible Monday, but the upper trough begins to slide east of the area by midweek. The sinking air motion on the backside of the departing trough means our weather should trend drier and hotter for the rest of next week. Showers and storms will become fewer in number and we should see more sun than clouds. The high Monday will be in the upper 80s, then lower 90s look to return the rest of next week.
DEBBY DEVELOPS: At 500 AM AST , the center of Tropical Storm Debby was located near latitude 40.8 North, longitude 48.8 West. Debby is moving toward the north-northeast near 9 mph, and this general motion is forecast to continue this morning. A turn toward the northeast is forecast by this afternoon, and that motion should continue into Thursday.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 45 mph with higher gusts. Little change is strength is forecast today, with slow weakening expected to begin late tonight or on Thursday. Debby is forecast to dissipate over the far northern Atlantic by Thursday night. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1003 mb (29.62 inches). This system is no threat to the U.S.
Have a great day!
Ryan
