Plenty of sunshine across Alabama today and highs are surging into the 60s statewide this afternoon and some spots across South Alabama are flirting with 70°. Tonight, lows will be in the mid to upper 40s.
BIRMINGHAM ALMANAC: For January 29th, the average high for Birmingham is 56° and the average low is 35°. The record high is 78° set in 2002, while the record low is 2° set in 1966. We average 0.16” of precipitation on this date and the record value is 1.58” set in 1932.
ACROSS THE USA: A clipper storm and arctic front will trigger additional snow showers and squalls over the eastern Great Lakes, Upstate New York, interior New England, and the northern Mid-Atlantic states into this evening making for hazardous travel. A storm crossing the southern Rockies with heavy snow today will move over the south-central U.S. Thursday with areas of severe thunderstorms and excessive rain.
RAIN RETURNS: Tomorrow will be mild and breezy as a strong southerly wind develops ahead of our next storm system. Tomorrow will be dry, and afternoon temperatures will climb into the upper 60s and lower 70s. Tomorrow night, rain and storms will move into the state and will be ending early Friday morning. Though some storms are expected, we are not expecting any severe storms due to the lack of surface based instability, which is the fuel thunderstorms need.
Rain amounts will be in the 1/2 to 1 inch range for the northern half of the state, with lesser amounts down south. The rain will come to an end through the morning hours Friday, and we should see afternoon highs in the 60s. We note, the Storm Prediction Center has southeastern portions of Alabama included in a “low end” threat of severe storms Friday, some storms with gusty winds are possible down that way.
DELIGHTFUL WEEKEND WEATHER: The best weekend of weather so far this year is expected this weekend. Expect mostly sunny mild days and clear cool nights; highs in the low to mid 60s Saturday and upper 60s to low 70s Sunday, lows will be in the 40s.
SPRING-LIKE WEATHER: The dry and very pleasant weather continues for much of next week, in fact the long range temperature outlook shows that much of the Deep South will see above average temperates the first couple of week of February. Instead of winter weather issues, we are going to be keeping an eye on the severe weather potential. It is severe weather season in the Deep South afterall, which runs from November to May.
WORLD TEMPERATURE EXTREMES: Over the last 24 hours, the highest observation outside the U.S. was 115.5F at Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay. The lowest observation was -64.7F at Summit, Greenland.
CONTIGUOUS TEMPERATURE EXTREMES: Over the last 24 hours, the highest observation was 84F at Ochopee, FL. The lowest observation was -24F at Peter Sinks, UT.
