FEW STORMS TODAY; TROPICAL UPDATE; COOLER TEMPS POSSIBLE NEXT WEEK… September marks the peak month of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and we are watching three areas of disturbed weather across the Atlantic Basin today. Fortunately, none of these systems are expected to directly impact Alabama or northwest Florida imminently. We could have a few showers and thunderstorms around this afternoon into this evening, but I expect showers and storms to be a bit less in coverage today. This overall drier pattern is set to continue through Thursday. We’re also looking ahead in the extended forecast into the middle part of next week (aka one week from now) when we may have a shot of cooler air move into the Deep South. Let’s look at all of your forecast details for the first day of September.
FEW SHOWERS & STORMS POSSIBLE TODAY… Mostly sunny skies are expected across south Alabama and northwest Florida. There could be a few showers and thunderstorms around the region, especially in the P.M. hours. Widespread severe weather is not expected, but I cannot completely rule out a loud/strong storm or two in any of the storms that fire up today. Main concerns will be heavy rain and cloud-to-ground lightning. High temperatures will be in the mid-90s today and over the next few days.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION 15 MOVING OUT TO SEA… Tropical Depression 15 remains a weak, disorganized blob of clouds east of South Carolina in the western Atlantic Ocean today. TD15 may briefly strengthen into a tropical storm over the next few days as it continues moving northeast. TD15 won’t directly affect land areas and is expected to continue to move out to sea in the north Atlantic Ocean.
80% CHANCE OF DEVELOPMENT IN CARIBBEAN… The National Hurricane Center (NHC) continues to indicate there is a high (80%) chance that a tropical wave moving through the central Caribbean Sea will become a tropical storm. Regardless of formal development, this tropical disturbance will likely continue to move west toward the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico later this week. There has been fairly good model agreement suggesting this tropical disturbance will continue moving westward toward the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf and ultimately the mainland of Mexico. That scenario is not set in stone, but confidence seems to be growing in that idea.
30% CHANCE OF DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN ATLANTIC… Another tropical wave is emerging from the African continent today into the far eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. NHC says this tropical wave has a 20-30% chance of becoming a tropical storm over the next few days. We note that very early model indications point to the system moving northwest and potentially turning north into the open waters of the Atlantic, thus staying away from land entirely. That is the desirable outcome. We’ll keep watching and bring you the latest in the days ahead in the RedZone Weather app.
CHANCE OF COOLER TEMPS IN ABOUT A WEEK… There is a good chance we’ll see lower temperatures on the thermometers next week as our first real shot of cooler air happens across the region. I do not expect a significant outbreak of cold temperatures (or really anything remotely close to that!) but I do expect lower-60s for overnight lows by Wednesday morning of the upcoming week (not tomorrow, but a week from tomorrow). Some spots across the northern half of the local area (Clarke, Washington, Monroe, Butler counties, as examples) may hit the upper-50s! This brief stint of cooler air won’t last long as temperatures will rise quickly into the upper-80s in the afternoon hours next week.
APP… Be sure to download our free RedZone Weather app if you haven’t done so already. redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the app for your iOS or Android device. Once you have the app downloaded, be sure to visit the Alerts tab in the lower right corner of the app to select the specific notifications you would like to receive straight from me.
See all the details in your Tuesday #rzw forecast video. Have a great day!