Not much going on across the north half of Alabama this evening.

In fact, nothing whatsoever from Birmingham north.

At 7:30 some scattered showers near Demopolis in West Alabama and along the Clay-Tallapoosa and Randolph-Chambers line over on the east side of the state.

The strongest thunderstorms were east and SE of Montgomery.

Everything moving east.

After going two days in a row failing to reach 90 in Birmingham, the ole thermometer topped out at 92 this afternoon. A list of the highs starting with the hottest:

97 in Muscle Shoals
95 in Decatur
94 in Tuscaloosa
93 in Huntsville and Montgomery
92 in Birmingham
90 in Anniston
89 in Evergreen
88 in Mobile

WE ARE EXPERIENCING A HOT JULY

* At Birmingham Airport, today was the 19th day this month with highs in the 90s.
* 13 days with highs 95 or hotter
* 6 days with highs 97 or above
* No 100 so far this month but June had two
* The average high this month so far of 93.6 is almost 4 degrees hotter than normal
* This is about 5 degrees hotter than July last year.
* Never got above 94 in all of July last year
* Main reason--we got 9.35 inches of rain in July last year

Life goes on--wet or dry--hot or cold.

Most of the north half of Alabama was rain-free late this afternoon.

There was a zone of scattered thunderstorms from Marengo County in West Alabama eastward across Marengo, Dallas and Autauga County eastward to Macon and Russell County on the east side of the state.

There was a shower forming over East Bibb County east of Centreville. Some in Central Mississippi were edging into South Pickens County in West Alabama.

General movement toward the east and ENE.

Tropical moisture is spreading inland over South Louisiana and rain is becoming widespread in that area.

There should be an increase in the number of showers and thunderstorms across Alabama tomorrow.

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server, and in Quicktime format today as we continue to make some changes here in the office. Here is a direct link to the video:

http://www.jamesspann.com/radio/weathervideo/mapvideo072506pm.mov


THE ALABAMA STORY: Our old front is still hanging in there... running from about Scottsboro to Cullman to Millport. North of that line, dry air is the story and the weather is rain-free. To the south, more showers and storms are firing up. Some of the stronger storms are north of Demopolis in the southern part of Greene and Hale counties. The sky is pretty dark looking north from our Demopolis SKYCAM site:

http://www.abc3340.com/static/skycams/skycamsdemopolis.html

TROPICAL CONNECTION: Moisture from the disturbance in the western Gulf continues to stream our way, and that has to give the GFS come credibility. Looks like we will have scattered to numerous showers and storms both tomorrow and Thursday afternoon, and many spots will see highs only in the upper 80s due to the afternoon showers. A very nice change from the really hot and dry weather last week.

Later in the week the heights rise a bit and showers and storms might thin out a bit by Friday, but there will be quite a deep layer of tropical moisture still around here.

WEEKEND PEEK: We will continue to roll with the standard summer forecast on Saturday and Sunday; you know the deal. Partly sunny; scattered afternoon showers and storms. The high both days should be close to 90.

Have to cut it short today... getting back to computer work. We will be back to normal at some point soon! J.B. will keep an eye on the sky and have blog updates if needed this evening...

This week's WeatherBrains is on the web, and available via iTunes:

http://www.weatherbrains.com/

WeatherBrains is our weekly 30 minute podcast all about weather featuring our team of weather geeks.

n this week's podcast:

-Talking tropics: We look at the tropical system in the southern Gulf of Mexico, and the WeatherBrains crew shares thoughts about prospects for other tropical storms to develop as the summer progresses;

-Central Alabama rainfall: Some folks get soaked, while others remain bone dry;

-Covering the coast: ABC 33/40's new Gulf Shores SkyCam;

-Birmingham's Weather Radio "legend" recognized by University of Georgia meteorological research scientist;

-What's it like where it's really hot? David Black calls a resort where triple digit temperatures are a way of life during the summer...

The Tuesday morning map discussion video is on the web, and available on iTunes:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Pretty interesting little forecast here this morning. The big question involves the degree of moisture headed this way from our tropical disturbance over the western Gulf of Mexico. The GFS is the most aggressive model with the moisture, and looks pretty wet here through mid-week. The NAM is much drier. Who do you believe?

A simple glance at water vapor satellite images sure gives the GFS a little credibility; I do think precipatable water levels will be pretty high today, along and south of I-20, and statewide tomorrow, thanks to this moisture flow you can't ignore. But, at the same time, upper heights will be slowly rising for the rest of the week and as our surface front dissipates surface convergence will decrease. It could be the best coverage of showers and storms statewide will be tomorrow, then backing off a bit by Thursday and Friday. But still, on those days, we will have the usual "scattered afternoon thunderstorms" around.

Temperatures this week will be well below the levels we had to endure last week; highs will be pretty close to 90 degrees most afternoons. Birmingham has failed to reach 90 degrees for the last two days in a row; a very nice change.

WEEKEND PEEK: A quick glance at the weekend suggests "normal" summer weather with sun at times and a chance of an afternoon shower or storm.

TROPICS: I am not sure our system in the western Gulf will have the chance to become a tropical storm due to the proximity to land. But, it will bring heavy rain to the lower Rio Grande Valley and the Texas coastal plain. The rest of the Atlantic basin remains pretty quiet.

GULF SHORES SKYCAM: I am delighted to make our SKYCAM in Gulf Shores available on the web:

http://www.abc3340.com/static/skycams/skycamsgulfshores.html

Once again, thanks to our partner Compass Bank for making this entire project happen. What a great service to Alabamians.

STUFF: Still making the big change from the Windows platform to Mac OS X... all good things just take time. With a busy speaking schedule it has been a slow process, but I will write a full report on my experience with the MacBook Pro later this week. I hope to crank out the afternoon video discussion using the new computer and Final Cut (video editing software). I should have the afternoon video posted by 3:30 this afternoon...