COOLER AIR INVADING WEST ALABAMA NOW; WILL SPREAD ACROSS REGION TODAY… Fall arrived on the calendar several weeks ago, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at our temperatures over the last few weeks. That changes today, however, as a cold front continues to move eastward across south Alabama and northwest Florida this morning. There is a sharp thermal gradient in place across the area this morning with some spots near the Alabama-Mississippi state line being in the 50s while many more spots on the eastern side of our region remain in the warm sector out ahead of the front and in the 70s. The lingering showers and thunderstorms will move out of our region to the east by this afternoon. Mostly cloudy skies will persist into the evening.
COOLER TEMPERATURES TONIGHT… Temperatures may be at their coolest point so far during this fall season overnight and around 6AM on Saturday morning. Locales in Clarke, Monroe, Washington, and Butler counties will be in the mid- to upper-50s by 6AM Sunday. Most other locales farther southeast will be in the low-60s.
NICE SUNDAY UPCOMING… Mostly cloudy skies are likely on Sunday. Rain chances will remain low (10-20%) but not entirely zero. High temperatures will be in the low-80s.
RAIN LIKELY EARLY NEXT WEEK… An increasingly unsettled pattern is setting up for the early part of the upcoming week. Rain chances will be highest on Tuesday when we could have a potential heavy rain event setting up across the region as a stalled frontal boundary provides focus for the potential for numerous showers and thunderstorms.
ANOTHER COLD FRONT APPROACHES ON WEDNESDAY… Our next chance of another cool down happens on Wednesday into Thursday as a cold front approaches from the northwest. High temperatures on Thursday may struggle to get out of the 70s! We quickly rebound into the low-80s on Friday, however.
SUBTROPICAL STORM MELISSA SOUTHEAST OF CAPE COD… The large swirl of clouds that has produced coastal flooding and gusty winds along the New England coast over the last few days was designated as Subtropical Storm Melissa late yesterday morning. The system has maximum winds of 50 mph. The center of circulation is about 250 miles south-southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Melissa will continue to move eastward and away from the continental United States. No direct impacts from Melissa will happen in Alabama or northwest Florida.
LOW PRESSURE NEAR HONDURAS IN WESTERN CARIBBEAN… There is a low (20%) chance of a tropical storm forming north of the Honduras coast in the western Caribbean Sea in the next few days as an area of low pressure moves east. The focus in October increasingly shifts to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea to closely monitor systems like this. For now, this system is nothing to worry about, but it is something to monitor in the days ahead.
NEW TROPICAL WAVE NEAR AFRICA… The National Hurricane Center says there is a 30% chance of tropical storm formation near the Cabo Verde Islands in the days ahead. From their discussion: “A tropical wave, accompanied by a broad area of low pressure, is expected to move off the west coast of Africa on Sunday. Although tropical cyclone formation in this area is climatologically unlikely this late in the hurricane season, some development of this system is possible early next week while it moves generally northwestward near or over the Cabo Verde Islands.”
APP… If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free RedZone Weather app to keep up with all the latest information on the world of weather in south Alabama and northwest Florida. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Once you have the app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) and tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
I’ll have updates today in the RedZone Weather app. Have a wonderful Saturday!