ABC 33/40 E-Forecast

ABC 33/40 E-FORECAST
Afternoon Edition For Thursday July 16, 2009
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...Thunderboomers!...

BUILDING A RAIN SURPLUS: I have been in weather a long, long time. I
do not remember seeing so many days in one spring and summer with
thunderstorms that take aim at us from the north and NW. That is how
the pattern has run much of the summer, with a heat ridge to the west
making the thunderstorms take a circular track and come down from the
north. I absolutely cannot prove this, but I have always believed that
storms from that direction with more lightning than others. Pure
speculation.

Anyway, we had some big storms move down from the north late last
night and into the wee morning hours dumping heavy rain in some areas.
This morning, when I got up at 5:00, low and behold there was another
army of storms waiting to invade us again from the north. They were
slow-movers and by this afternoon the heaviest storms had moved south
of the Birmingham area, but others will be developing. Three rain
amounts since 7:00 this morning: 0.77 Haleyville, 0.63 Tuscaloosa
Airport, 1.54 at Birmingham Airport.

The heavy rain at Birmingham Airport sends the total for July so far
to 5.54 inches and brings our excess for the year to more than 3.50
inches.

Big contrast in temperature today: it was only in the 70s over much of
North Alabama in the rain country, while Gulf Shores on the coast had
mid 90s by early afternoon.

There will be some more showers and thunderstorms tonight and Friday.
They may be numerous at times on Friday with some more locally heavy
rain.

A MODEL WEEKEND: Do not know what your idea of a perfect weekend is,
but this weekend hits my formula to a T. Another front, and this time
we will call it a cool front, will push down into Central Alabama
Friday night and go all the way to the coast Saturday morning. It will
hang out along the coast until the middle of next week. Because of
that we can look for mostly sunshine Saturday, Sunday and Monday and
probably even on Tuesday. You will notice a sharp drop in humidity
Saturday and the lower humidity will stay with us for several days.
Highs will be in the mid 80s. Our cooler mornings will be Sunday and
Monday with an average low of around 60, but easily some 50s in the
cooler NE Alabama valleys. Sticking my neck out, I would say somebody
will report a 54 on one of those mornings.

TROPICAL AND BEACH WEATHER: We are still looking for Ana to be born.
No sign of her anywhere. Gulf Shores, Ft. Walton, Orange Beach and all
those places will have a good chance of thunderstorms Friday. They
should taper off Saturday morning. Sunday and Monday should be very
nice days, few if any showers, cooler early mornings and lower daytime
humidity with highs in the mid 80s.

DID YOU KNOW that in the Sahara Desert rocks and sand get so hot that
they can blister your hands? A lot of tribesmen have never seen
rain in their lives. Since I am a rain monger, I would finish going
crazy.

ROAMING: The old air conditioners are humming this summer in places
like Austin where the thermometer has climbed to 100 or higher on 12
of the first 15 days this month with an average of 101.6. Mind you,
Austin has had only one sprinkle of rain all month. 123 in Death
Valley yesterday, 33 this morning in Stanley, Idaho. It was 106
yesterday in Wichita Falls, Texas. I will always be fond of that place
because every year, when we would drive out west, we could gas up
there for less than 20 cents per gallon.

MY TINY CORNER OF THE WORLD: I got a heads up this morning that
thunderstorms were coming when Little Miss Molly came in my office and
poked my leg with her paw wanting me to hold her. That meant she had
already heard thunder even though it was way out of my range. We had
several hours of window-shaking thunder, so that little girl
disappeared moving from place to place that she has picked out for
safety during storms. One of them is behind my comfortable chair in
the den where she goes in headfirst and I can only see her little rear
end. Life goes on even with thunder and lightning.

J. B. Elliott
jb.elliott@theweathercompany.com

ABC 33/40 7 Day Planner: http://cfc.abc3340.com/abc3340/7day.cfm
ABC 33/40 Weather Blog: http://www.alabamawx.com

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TONIGHT
Occasional thunderstorms, mainly through the evening.
Morning Low 74
WIND: SW 4-8

FRIDAY
Showers and thunderstorms, numerous at times. Rain locally heavy.
Morning Low 74 Afternoon High 86
WIND: W 6-12

SATURDAY
Becoming mostly sunny with much lower humidity.
Morning Low 64 Afternoon High 85
WIND: N 7-14

SUNDAY
Sunny. A cool morning for July.
Morning Low 59 Afternoon High 84
WIND: NE 6-12

MONDAY
Mostly sunny. A very comfortable mid-summer day.
Morning Low 60 Afternoon High 86
WIND: NE 5-10

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