SUNNY & MOSTLY DRY THROUGH FRIDAY; COOLER NEXT WEEK… Sunshine and heat loom large today across south Alabama and northwest Florida. We finally will get some rain and some heat relief in the latter half of Sunday into Monday ahead of an advancing cold front. There will be a significant weather pattern change next week that will allow for more seasonal, cool air to filter in intermittently in the weeks ahead. We’re also monitoring two weak tropical disturbances and we’ve got your high school and college football forecasts. See all the details below…
HIGH-LEVEL ALERT TEST TODAY… It is almost time for our next quarterly test of the RedZone Weather app emergency alert notification system. We test the “all app emergency alert system” on the first Wednesday of January, April, July, and October. The quarterly test will be TODAY (Wednesday, October 2, 2019) at 1PM Central Time. If you have the RedZone Weather app set up with notifications properly, you should receive this High-Level Alert Test.
SHOWERS & STORMS POSSIBLE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY… Our next significant chance of rain happens on Sunday and Monday as a cold front approaches our area from the northwest. We’ll call it a 30% and 40% chance of rain, respectively, for Sunday and Monday. We may have to adjust rain chances higher in future forecasts, however. Please understand that while most folks will probably have rain with this event, there is a chance that some spots may go dry. The good news is there will be more opportunities for rain in the next 2 weeks. Slightly cooler, drier air will move in behind the cold front on Monday or Tuesday of the upcoming week.
10% CHANCE OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT NEAR YUCATAN… There is a very low (10%) chance of a tropical storm forming in the southern Gulf this weekend as a disorganized area of low pressure moves northwest near the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. From the NHC discussion: “A broad area of low pressure located over the northwestern Caribbean Sea continues to produce disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Any development of this system is expected to be slow to occur while it moves to the west-northwest near the Yucatan peninsula in a couple of days, and over the southern Gulf of Mexico by Friday.”
10% CHANCE OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT SOUTH OF BERMUDA… Separately from the 10% chance of development discussed above, there is also an area of disturbed weather in the western Atlantic Ocean that has a very low (10%) chance of development in the days ahead. From NHC: Disorganized cloudiness and showers that extend from the southeastern Bahamas northeastward across the western Atlantic for several hundred miles are associated with a surface trough. Development of this system, if any, is expected to be slow to occur while it moves to the northeast at 5 to 10 mph, well south and east of Bermuda.”
LORENZO HEADED OUT… Hurricane Lorenzo is about to become extratropical over the northeastern corner of the Atlantic basin, near the Azores where hurricane warnings continue this morning. Lorenzo will never directly affect the United States.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FORECAST… Friday will probably be the final “very hot” day of the seemingly never-ending summer of 2019. High temperatures Friday will be in the 95-97° range in most spots. Kickoff temperatures for high school football games across our region will be in the mid- to upper-80s. Rain chances remain very low (0-10%) in most spots locally. Temperatures will decline into the upper-70s by the end of the games. The good news is next week’s round of high school football will probably be much cooler!
COLLEGE FOOTBALL FORECASTS… Each week, we provide a brief summary of our local college football matchups when the weather isn’t quite active locally. See details below.
ALABAMA BYE WEEK… Alabama is off this week with no football game on the schedule. The Crimson Tide will travel to College Station, TX next week (October 12) to play Texas A&M. High temperatures on Saturday in Tuscaloosa will be in the mid-90s with mostly sunny skies.
AUBURN AT FLORIDA… The Auburn Tigers travel to Gainesville, Florida to take on UF in The Swamp. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30PM CDT. The game will be televised on local CBS stations. We’ll call it a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms for Gainesville and surrounding areas in north-central Florida on Saturday. Other than the scattered storms around, there should be plenty of sunshine. High temperatures will be around 90°, which is the forecast temperature when kickoff will happen. Temperatures won’t decline that much, ending up around 84° by the end of the game.
TROY AT MISSOURI… Troy travels to Columbia, Missouri to take on the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. The game is scheduled for a 3PM kickoff on the SEC/ESPN+ Network. Rain chances are high, in the 70-80% chance range, for much of the day on Saturday. Temperatures will be in the mid-70s throughout the day. Lightning delays may be possible.
SOUTH ALABAMA VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN… The Jaguars of South Alabama will play Georgia Southern on Saturday at 6:30PM. The game is set to be televised on ESPNU. High temperatures in Mobile will be around 93° on Saturday, but by 6:30PM, I expect temperatures to be around 89° in most spots. There is a low (10-20%) chance of rain, but most spots across our region should remain dry.
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 graphics and details in your Wednesday #rzw forecast video. Have a great day!