Sunny & Mild Wednesday Afternoon; Severe Threat Saturday
It was a cold and frosty start to the day across central and south Alabama. Morning lows fell into the upper 20s to low 30s. Temperatures rebounded quickly, with readings in the mid to upper 50s as of 11 AM. For January, today looks like another excellent day across central and south Alabama. High temperatures reach the low to mid 60s with abundant sunshine this afternoon. This evening looks chilly, with temperatures quickly falling into the upper 40s by 7PM, then lower 40s by 11PM. Overnight lows fall into the mid and upper 30s under a clear sky.
Clouds begin to increase Thursday with winds shifting to the southeast. Expect highs near 70° with a partly cloudy sky on average. Thursday looks dry, but showers and storms are likely Friday as a warm front lifts through our area. Those storms should be sub-severe. However, a potent storm system approaches our area Saturday. Severe weather looks probable for our area between the mid morning and evening. Details are still a bit limited at this point, but given the atmospheric setup, tornadoes and damaging straight line winds look like significant hazards.
A line of storms is expected to sweep through our area ahead of a cold front, but discrete thunderstorms could develop in advance of the line. If that happens, those storms would pose a higher tornado threat. Strong straight-line wind gusts are the primary threat along the line of storms, but tornadoes are also a threat. The line and cold front should push east of our area sometime Saturday evening, ending the severe weather threat.
Sunday looks like a mainly dry day, though a few showers could sneak into south Alabama as the cold front stalls just to our southeast. The front slowly lifts back north and becomes stationary early next week, leading to more showers and storms Monday through Wednesday. Temperatures look mild during that frame, with highs near 70° and lows in the 50s.
