Labor Day didn’t feature the sunny and dry end to the holiday weekend that many may have hoped for. Showers and storms became widespread along a “cold” front parked across central Alabama Monday afternoon.
Friday began on a sunny note in central and south Alabama, but clouds gradually increased during the day. By Friday evening, many locations had a mostly cloudy sky. Despite the clouds, there wasn’t any rain in our area through the afternoon, and there won’t be this evening either.
A deck of low clouds covered much of central and south Alabama early Thursday morning. However, sunshine became quite abundant by midday. That’s the case for the afternoon too.
Ida’s impacts to our area are part of history. Wednesday started on a much sunnier note than Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday did. While it looks nice, temperatures are much warmer because of it. Many locations were near or north of 90° by noon, and due to fairly high humidity, heat indices were already near 100°.
The center of still tropical depression Ida was in the Tennessee Valley as of 10AM Tuesday. However, the tropical circulation remains large and we still feel the impacts from the storm. Wind, rain, and a low tornado risk remain hazards in our area through late Tuesday.
Ida became a hurricane Friday, located near the western tip of Cuba at 5PM Friday. The Friday afternoon forecast from the NHC calls for Ida to be even stronger prior to landfall. Ida could have sustained winds of 140 mph, making it a Category 4 storm.
Thursday started cloudier than Monday through Wednesday of this week. The low clouds gradually mixed out Thursday morning, and our area became sunnier in most locations by midday. The rain chance looks significantly lower today, with only stray showers or storms possible this afternoon.
Wednesday began on a mainly sunny note once more for central and south Alabama. Temperatures warmed quickly through midday as a result, with many spots near 90° by 11AM. Wednesday afternoon looks hot, just not quite as hot as Monday and Tuesday.
Tuesday morning was abundantly sunny across south Alabama. In response, temperatures surged from the mid 70s around sunrise into the low 90s by midday. Also, the late-August humidity persists, so heat indices were already around 100° by 11AM. Expect those values between 100 and 105° during the afternoon.
It was a sunny and dry Monday morning across central and south Alabama. Our area was rain-free through midday too, and that may be the case for virtually all of our area through the afternoon.
