Mainly Cloudy Wednesday; Arctic Cold Blast Thursday
Wednesday remains mainly cloudy but Tuesday’s rain is gone. Temperatures remain cool, with highs in the 50s. A breezy east wind up to 15 mph during the day adds an extra chill to the air. The sky stays mainly cloudy Wednesday night with lows in the low to mid 40s. Thursday looks mostly cloudy and milder with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s. Showers appear possible, especially late in the day/evening in advance of the advertised Arctic cold front.
However, Thursday’s rain looks nothing like the soaking rain of Tuesday. Showers remain scattered and relatively light and brief. The air behind the front looks very cold, but very dry. Precipitation quickly ends behind the front, and winter weather potential in terms of precipitation still looks very low for our area. However, temperatures drop rapidly behind the front. By sunrise Friday, temperatures fall into the 20s. Meanwhile, wind chills could be near 0°.
A wind chill watch begins at midnight Thursday night and runs through noon Christmas Eve for locations near and north of highway 80. In our area, wind chills could be as low as 0°. A hard freeze warning begins at midnight Thursday night and runs through 9AM Christmas day for all of central Alabama. Overnight lows could fall to 10 to 15° during that time.
Meanwhile, afternoon temperatures may not reach 30° Friday. High temperatures only reach the 30s Christmas Eve, and low 40s at most Christmas Day. Even Sunday night lows could fall below 20°. Temperatures remain cool early next week, with highs in the 40s Monday and Tuesday despite sunshine each day. Lows fall into the 20s each night. However, temperatures trend warmer starting Wednesday next week.
