SUNNY TODAY; FEW SHOWERS POSSIBLE EARLY FRIDAY… Today will be a near perfect winter weather day across our region will full sunshine expected. High temperatures will be in the low-60s this afternoon. Our next chance of rain happens tonight into Friday, but as of now, the overall chance of rain for any given locale across the region remains quite low (10-20%). If rain happens tonight into early Friday, it is most likely to occur closer to the immediate coast. Skies should clear out on Friday afternoon, giving way to sunny skies with highs in the 50s. Below are a few more Thursday forecast details.
SUNNY, COOL WEEKEND… A nice weekend is on tap for south Alabama and northwest Florida. High temps will be in the low- to mid-50s. Full sunshine is expected on Saturday ahead of a few clouds becoming possible on Sunday.
RAIN POSSIBLE SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY… I am not optimistic that we will see much in the way of rainfall on Sunday night into Monday, but there could be a few showers under some scenarios. We note these would likely be exclusively rain showers with no wintry precipitation expected.
MORE RAIN POSSIBLE MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK… Even if we have no rain on Sunday night into Monday, it looks like another cold front will approach our area in the middle part of the upcoming week. This means that there could be a day or two with temperatures that reach into the 60s in the afternoons with a chance of rain late Tuesday into Wednesday. We’ll be watching trends concerning this over the next few days.
COLD WINTER SO FAR; WHY? PARTIAL BLAME ON TELECONNECTIONS… Sometimes, local weather events are influenced by events that happen far away in other parts of the world. We call these events “teleconnections” in meteorology. Two teleconnections that I monitor frequently in winter are the Arctic Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. These two indicators can have big impacts on the weather patterns in the eastern half of the United States. When both of these indicators trend toward their negative values, that is a fairly good indicator (generally) that much colder air can spill down into the eastern U.S. from higher latitudes. The NAO has trended slightly negative since December 1. The AO, on the other hand, has trended QUITE negative since December 1. This has allowed some of the polar, Arctic air to move south into lower latitudes. It is also one of the reasons we are having a much colder winter compared to the last few years.
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.
See all the details in your Thursday #rzw forecast video. Have a great day!
