You can definitely tell a cold front moved through the state overnight as it has been a much colder and blustery day. The cold front is now well to the east of the state. An area of high pressure located over the Midwest is sliding southeast bringing with it Arctic air into the U.S. It is the reason our winds have been blowing out of the northwest today and those winds are advecting all the cold air into the state. The high pressure will be the main player in our weather for the week ahead; which means we stay cold, but dry and sunny.
COLDEST NIGHT SO FAR THIS WINTER: The sky will be clearing tonight and the temperatures will be falling rapidly. We will be at or near freezing by about 10PM and temps will only continue to fall, most locations will be in the mid-20s by tomorrow morning. The last time we were in the mid-20s was on March 6th, 2015, when we were at 26F. We are forecasting a low in Montgomery of 25F and some spots will be in the lower 20s. If this forecast verifies, it will be the coldest night since February 20th, when it was 20F. Heading into our Monday, after the very cold start, it will be a clear and cold day with lots of sunshine, the winds will be less than today’s but still temperatures should stay in the upper 40s to and lower 50s all day.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: The FBS National Championship game, Alabama vs Clemson, is Monday at Glendale, Arizona (7:30p CT kickoff). Despite a good bit of rain for Phoenix this week, the weather looks cool and dry for the game with temperatures falling from the mid 50s at kickoff, into the upper 40s by the second half. The stadium has a roof, but it will be pretty chilly walking to and from your transportation.
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY: These two days are going to feature ample sunshine, but cold nights. Tuesday we are forecasting another frigid start to the day with 20s area wide, but we will see afternoon highs about five degrees warmer than Monday, meaning mid-50s. Heading into Tuesday night, a reinforcing shot of cold air moves into the state and Wednesday will be colder as highs near 50F are expected.
THURSDAY/FRIDAY: The area of high pressure will slide east of the state. A weak wave of energy will move out of the Southern Plains as well, and will be allowing warmer and more moist conditions to return to the state. Thursday will see increasing clouds and highs back to near 50 degrees. By Friday morning, we are only looking for lows in the mid and upper 30s. Temperatures will warm even more on Friday with upper 50s expected, but also late Thursday and into Friday, we do have to mentions the risk of rain back in the forecast with that wave of energy move across the Southeast.
WEEKEND SNEAK PEEK: After Friday, forecast confidence is very low. The latest model runs show a more zonal flow across the Southeast next weekend, with seasonal temperatures and the chance for scattered showers. Earlier runs showed another deep trough over the East and would mean more cold Arctic air. I will stay with the latest model data and go with the chance of scattered showers and temperatures near seasonal averages.
Stay warm tonight and have a wonderful week!
Ryan
The post Coldest Weather So Far This Winter appeared first on Alabama News.