A gray, cool morning across much of north and central Alabama this morning, with a few showers moving across the area. These showers are light, and should remain so throughout the morning. We may see a few more showers late this afternoon and this evening, and we might even see a few more Sunday as well, but these should be pretty light, with rain totals of about a tenth of an inch likely in most spots that actually see rain. Clouds should begin to break up Sunday afternoon, and we should return to some sun by Monday. Spring Break week looks pretty quiet, with a slight chance of rain for the midweek and highs mostly around normal in the lower 60’s.

Jason Kelley
Fox6 Meteorologist
jkelley@wbrc.com

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At Noon the swollen Alabama river reached the 39,53 foot level.  Flood stage is 35 feet.  The river continues to rise and will crest near 40.0 feet late tonight after Midnight.  It should stay above flood stage until Monday morning.  This is the highest the river has been since it crested at 42.3 feet in April of 2005.

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If spring breakers were to grade the upcoming weekend, they might give it a C-.  Not an F and certainly not an A.

The problem is a rather large and slow moving upper level area of low pressure, up around 20,000 feet in the atmosphere dropping down into the Tennessee valley.  It will be centered near Ft. Payne tomorrow morning.  Think of it as a large wheel rotating counter clockwise with little disturbances circulating around the center like spokes on a wheel.  Some of the very cold air aloft with this feature will mix down to the surface, resulting in much below normal temperatures for the middle of March.

The end result will be cloudy, cooler night tonight with spotty showers rotating into the area.  Saturday will not feel like spring break.  It will be cloudy, breezy and cool with spotty showers hear and there. The high on Saturday may actually fall short of 60.  Sunday, as the upper low slowly creeps to the northeast, look for at least a few breaks of sun and again highs struggling to reach the lower 60’s.  Monday will feature more sun and highs into the middle 60’s.

The best news for spring breakers, we do not see any major storm systems on the horizon for the next several days.  Although there could be a few scattered showers around mid week.

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What a morning?  We were covered up with hail reports.  When you have a moment – you should checkout our hail pictures on myfoxal.com

Looks like our upper-level low will continue to rotate just to the north of us over the next 24 hours.  It’s possible higher elevations of the Tennessee Valley may even see a few snow flurries late tonight into tomorrow.  We are going to stay cloudy for a good portion of the weekend with the return of some sunshine Sunday.  Most of next week looks dry with only a few showers expected Tuesday. 

Friday: The forecast for the rest of the day looks pretty decent – temperatures climbing into the lower 60s with a partly cloudy sky. 
Friday night:  Skies will be cloudy with overnight lows in the lower 40s.

Weekend Forecast: Just when you thought the rain was over – it looks like we’ll still see some light rain/drizzle through the day Saturday.  NO SEVERE WEATHER.  Let’s call it dreary with highs in the mid 50s.  Sunday should be a bit warmer with highs around 60 with a  few peaks of sunshine.

Spring Break:  For folks heading to the Alabama Gulf Coast or perhaps the Panama City area – looks like most of the week should be rain free with only a few occasional showers.  Highs in the lower to mid 60s with lows in the 40s.  That water temp is still chilly in the lower 60s.

James-Paul Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
james.dice@wbrc.com

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Per amateur radio – trees down at the 3800 block of Steele Street in Hamilton, windows blown out of a building in Hamilton on military street.  Bear Creek in Marion co. – trained spotters reporting tennis ball size hail.

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We’re waking up to rumbles of thunder.  The primary threat this morning will be large hail and damaging winds.  We’ve already received reports of hail the size of golfballs in the Hamilton area this morning.  There is a minimal risk of tornadoes with these thunderstorms.  However, I still think there is a significant wind threat.  Expect winds in excess of 70mph.  The storms are moving Northeast at 40mph.

It appears our severe weather threat will diminsh during the late morning hours.  It’s possible we could see a few additional storms as the main front moves through during the early afternoon.  Although – I think the best threat for severe weather later in the day will be in Georgia and points East.

James-Paul Dice
Fox 6 Chief Meteorologist
james.dice@wbrc.com

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Primary threat will be hail and winds up to 70mph.  We’ll keep you updated from the Fox 6 StormWarn Center.

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Storms are getting stronger and tracking NE at 45mph   

Golfball sized hail was reported in Lamar County at 215  Dime sized hail reported 3 miles north of Hamilton around 210.  The threat is large hail and damaging wind gusts to 60mph.

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THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
   SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
  
          WESTERN ALABAMA
          CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
  
   EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 1145 PM
   UNTIL 500 AM CST.
  
   HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER…THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 65
   MPH…AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
  
   THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65
   STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
   JACKSON MISSISSIPPI TO 50 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF COLUMBUS
   MISSISSIPPI.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
   ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).
  
   REMEMBER…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
   FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
   AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
   THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
   AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY
   DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.
  
   DISCUSSION…THUNDERSTORMS ARE INCREASING ALONG A SURFACE FRONT OVER
   CENTRAL MS.  THIS ACTIVITY WILL SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE
   EARLY MORNING HOURS TOWARD NORTHWEST AL.  INSTABILITY IS WEAK…BUT
   STEEP LAPSE RATES AND SUFFICIENT DEEP LAYER VERTICAL SHEAR WILL
   SUPPORT A FEW INTENSE UPDRAFTS CAPABLE OF LARGE HAIL.

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