The Heat is Hot in Central Alabama

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

http://www.jamesspann.com/

A reminder the map discussion videos are now being produced in the QuickTime format. If you watch the video in IE (Internet Explorer), you will have to wait a minute or two until the entire file loads before you watch it. If you use Firefox or any other browser, it will begin playing immediately as it loads. Just another reason to use Firefox and dump IE!

Well, I think I've done it - produced a map discussion video on my MacBook Pro. Not completely sure yet, since it is still exporting the movie. Experimented with it last night and I think I have the general points down to produce a video. We'll know soon.

Around Central Alabama it looks like we will remain in a hot weather pattern for the next several days. The GFS this morning is advertising some relief next week, so it will be interesting to see how that shapes up with future model runs.

Tropically, Chris has been downgraded to a tropical depression. The low level center is well displaced away from the majority of the deep convection. A little convection was evident this morning on the satellite imagery, but not enough to really bring Chris back. The current forecast track takes the storm pretty much westward for the next several days moving along the island of Cuba. I'm not sure about their rainfall situation, but much of the island will probably see rain over the next several days along with windy conditions. I'm sure we'll be watching Chris, too, as he travels toward the Gulf. The good news for the northern Gulf area is the large high pressure at the surface and aloft which should keep Chris moving westward.

Not too much to discuss here in Central Alabama. A weak and dissipating cold front will be moving into the area today with some risk of severe storms mainly from Georgia east-northeast across the Carolinas. This comes from a combination of factors including the frontal boundary, a sea breeze boundary, hot surface conditions, and plenty of low level moisture.

With the upper level high strengthening again over the weekend, there is no immediate change to our weather with isolated storms mainly during the afternoon hours and high temperatures in the mid 90s.

Interesting to note that the GFS model output shows a drop in temperature for Central Alabama but I just don't see highs dropping off to 90 degrees. Perhaps we might see a few more clouds but there is no air mass change and I just don't expect a few clouds to keep afternoon temperatures that much cooler. But the weather can always humble you, so we'll just have to see.

I should have another video ready this afternoon before 5 pm. It looks like I was able to produce a movie so I'll spend some time trying to tweak my abilities and speed up things with the new system. Stay cool out there.

-Brian-