A nice shower is over southern Jefferson County from Homewood to Vestavia over to Cahaba Heights and Inverness.

It is the only shower left on the radar this evening.

Spoke too soon with that last update as it relates to our friends in Shelby County.

Looked up driving downtown and saw a very tall cloud that was flattening out against the troposphere...that would be a thunderstorm...

Quick check of radar showed a small storm that pulsed up quickly and has already rained itself out west of Columbiana as it moved toward the Shelby County Airport Some folks in that area area probably got brief heavy rain.

A few isolated showers are over East Central Alabama in Clay and Talladega Counties, with one approaching extreme eastern Shelby County.

Another shower is west of Hamilton in Marion County.

Growing up, my family called the veening meal supper. How about yours?

Anyway, here is a look at Alabama weather before I head to supper.

The radar is quieting down on this September Saturday. A few light showers are over East Central Alabama. The showers over West Central Alabama have all but diminished. The showers over Northwest Alabama are just about gone.

So, things should remain partly cloudy through the evening hours.


Out in the Atlantic...Florence remains a tropical storm.

Two main concentrations of shower and storm activity across Alabama at this time...

First is over the northwest corner of the state.

The other is over West Central Alabama, over parts of Fayette, Walker and northern Tuscaloosa Counties. The individual storms are rather small and isolated. They are pulse type storms that quickly rain themselves out.

Nothing threatening the University of Alabama campus where the Tide is hosting Vandy this afternoon.

Temperatures are generally in the 80s under partly cloudy skies, except in shower areas. It was 90 at Meridianville.

Showers and storms have formed over Northwest Alabama this afternoon.

At 1:20, they extended from Lauderdale and Colbert Counties, down across Franklin and Lawrence Counties, then over Marion and into Walker and northern Tuscaloosa Counties.

The showers are having a hard time rising high enough to produce lightning and become thunderstorms. The one southeast of Fayette probably had a little lightning with it before it began to fade in the past couple of minutes.

The activity is moving generally northeast, especially over Northwest Alabma. The Fayette County activity was building back to the west a little.


A tropical postscript...Air Force reconnaissance in Florence found it was still not a hurricane. Top winds are still carried at 70 mph. The pressure was down to 991 mb from 993 mb last fix.

Tropical storm Florence certainly became better organized during the overnight hours. The National Hurricane Center is holding just short of calling it a hurricane, since the system has no eye just yet. But it does have a decent central dense overcast now with thunderstorms concentrated around the center.

You can also see the tell-tale clockwise flow in the outflow, indicating that Florence is coming under the influence of an upper level high pressure system, which makes the environment conducive for strengthening.

Top winds are 70 mph.

Later today, we may be dealing with a hurricane. Air Force reconnaissance took off from San Juan just before 10:30 a.m. this morning and should be feeding us reports on the storm by early afternoon.

The storm is moving northwest and is expected to gradually begin to recurve and pass near Bermuda early Monday morning, then head out to sea.

It was three years ago when Hurricane Fabian struck Bermuda.

The island is keeping a close eye on the intensifying storm. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the island, in addition to the hurricane watch that was already in effect.

Florence could pass near Newfoundland Wednesday.

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

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Don't forget that the map discussion is available in both WMV and MOV formats (Windows and Quicktime), so you have your choice for viewing.

Look for a mixture of clouds and sun today with a weak surface disturbance moving along the old boundary that lies along the Gulf coast this morning. In Central Alabama I believe that we'll only see isolated showers this afternoon and into the early evening but with enough clouds we could knock several degrees off the high temperatures today. Temperatures yesterday reached the upper 80s with a few spots topping out with 90 or 91 - Tuscaloosa was the warm spot with 91. Looks like most of the football games will be fine unless one of those isolated showers happens right over the field.

The upper air sounding last night from the Shelby County airport showed a fairly strong cap around 600 millibars, and I think that will help to inhibit showers today. However with the low level moisture and the weak wave riding along that boundary near the Gulf coast we can't completely discount the possibility for some showers.

Little change will occur in the weather pattern through the first of the week. However a strong short wave trough is forecast to develop over the central US and move our way on Monday and Tuesday. As it does a surface low in the central US will move northeastward and drag a cold front into Alabama on Tuesday. We should have a mostly cloudy day Tuesday with showers and thunderstorms likely. Timing is still a bit problematic, so showers could linger into Wednesday. But by Wednesday we expect the front to have cleared Central Alabama paving the way for a nice end to the week.

With a ridge in place on Thursday and Friday we should be dry.

The front on Tuesday is still not one of these clippers that is going to bring a significant air mass change with it. While the trough is strong and should help to usher in drier air, temperatures will not change much with afternoon highs still in the lower to mid 80s. The slight cool off plus drier air will make it feel nice though. And morning lows by Thursday could be threating some 50-degree readings.

Headed out shortly for a busy Saturday. I'm going to zip down the mountain to Oxford for a short visit to the Calhoun County Hamfest being held today from 9 am to about 4 pm at the Friendship Community Center. Then it's over to Hoover for the Pet-A-Polooza where I'll join Tracy Haynes for judging of the pet entries. I just love getting out and talking with folks so it's going to be an enjoyable day.

I'll try to be back here tomorrow morning before 9 am with the next web video map discussion. Have a great Saturday.

-Brian-