James Spann: dry days ahead with temperature ups and downs
ROLLER COASTER: We will see a number of temperature swings through the weekend across Alabama and the Deep South. Today will be a mostly sunny day with a high in the 55-65 degree range this afternoon. An “Alberta Clipper” system will pass north of the state, and will pull down colder air tonight and tomorrow; temperatures will be about 5-10 degrees lower tomorrow afternoon. But the air will remain dry and the sky will stay mostly sunny.
FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND: Dry weather continues. Friday will be the warmest day with a high between 58 and 68; some South Alabama communities might even touch 70 degrees Friday afternoon. Not much change Saturday … with a partly sunny sky, highs will be in the upper 50s and 60s.
Arctic air creeps into the state Sunday. Some communities across the Tennessee Valley won’t get out of the 30s with a chilly north wind; highs for the rest of the state will be between 44 and 52 degrees. Sunday night will be very cold; temperatures will be well down in the 20s early Monday, and there is some potential for upper teens across the colder spots in North Alabama. A freeze is likely down to the Gulf Coast early Monday morning.
NEXT WEEK: The weather stays dry Monday and Tuesday with a slow warming trend. The latest global model output suggests our next decent chance of rain will come at some point over the latter half of the week.
ON THIS DATE IN 2021: A deadly late-season tornado outbreak, the deadliest on record in December, produced catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across portions of the southern United States and Ohio Valley, in areas northwest of Alabama.
The death toll from the outbreak was 89 (with six additional non-tornadic fatalities), surpassing the tornado outbreak sequence of December 1–6, 1953, which caused 49 fatalities, as the deadliest December tornado event ever recorded in the United States. In Kentucky alone, 74 people were killed by three separate tornadoes.
One of the hardest hit communities was Mayfield, Kentucky, where three large churches were destroyed. The Graves County courthouse lost much of its roof, its clock tower, and some of its exterior upper-floor walls. The city’s fire station, city hall, and police station were also destroyed, and the water tower was blown over and smashed to pieces. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed, with numerous homes being leveled or swept from their foundations, and cars were thrown and mangled.
For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit the Alabama Weather Network.