HOT AFTERNOON TODAY AND ON FRIDAY; COOLER NEXT WEEK… Today will likely be the first 90 degree day of 2020 for many locations across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Mostly sunny skies are expected throughout the day, meaning we’ll have plenty of heat content in the atmosphere this afternoon. No significant rain is expected until Saturday evening into Sunday morning when a round of showers is possible. Greater rain chances will happen on Tuesday as a cold front moves by our region. Much cooler air will be in place next week with highs dropping back into the 70s by Wednesday. That’s the summary, below are all of your forecast details.

NEAR RECORD HEAT TODAY AND FRIDAY… Temperatures will be in the 80s and even low-90s during the afternoon and early evening hours today and on Friday. Our average high temperature, in terms of the climatology for our local area, is around 78° but we’ll have temperatures 10 to 14 degrees above that value today and tomorrow. Plenty of sunshine is expected today and on Friday.

FEW SHOWERS POSSIBLE SATURDAY EVENING… A few showers may become possible late Saturday evening into Sunday morning. For now, no severe weather issues are expected locally, although we note there could be a few strong storms across the northern half of Mississippi. The Storm Prediction Center has much of northern Mississippi and western Tennessee involved in a Level 2 (out of 5) slight risk for Saturday. There could be a few strong storms over north Alabama Saturday evening as well.

COLD FRONT SET TO MOVE BY NEXT WEEK… We finally revert to our climatological mean/average for this time of year as cooler air arrives by the middle part of the upcoming week. Highs will drop into the 70s by Wednesday with morning lows being at or below 50° in many spots. Most forecast guidance suggests this won’t be a long bout of cold weather as opposed to a brief, 3-5 day stint of cooler conditions.

STORMS POSSIBLE TUESDAY… The cold front discussed above will potentially cause a few thunderstorms to our west on Monday and then in our region on Tuesday. There is a chance some of the storms could be on the strong side, although its too early to nail down specifics. Keep in mind that we are in the heart of our primary severe weather season, thus it would not be surprising to see this morph into a severe weather setup. We’ll keep you posted.

COOLER, DRIER BY WEDNESDAY… Cooler, drier air will rush in behind the advancing cold front on Wednesday of the upcoming week. High temperatures will likely drop into the 70s with overnight lows likely to be below 50 degrees as we go into the latter half of next week.

DON’T FORGET: CARDS FOR THE ELDERLY… Please don’t forget to take advantage of our new RedZone Weather Cards for the Elderly program. We want to be able to safely send as many encouraging cards as possible to our local senior adults in nursing homes. Be sure to visit the link below for all the information. This is an opportunity for students and adults across our region to write encouraging notes to elderly people currently under lockdown in local nursing homes due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/400827163408962/posts/1525439774281023/

APP… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. We post brief updates throughout each day in the app, keeping you up-to-date about the latest happenings in weather across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Once you have the free app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.

See all the details in your Thursday #rzw forecast video. Hope you have a great day!

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