Thursday April 25, 2024
Forecaster: James Spann

CALM SPRING WEATHER: We project a high in the 80-84 degree range across Alabama today with a party sunny sky. An isolated shower can't be ruled out this afternoon, but the chance of any one spot seeing rain is only 5-10 percent, and not really worth mentioning in the forecast.

This is basically the story through the weekend as an upper ridge builds across the Deep South. Partly sunny, warm das, fair nights, and highs in the low to mid 80s. Only a very small risk of a shower daily; the big storms remain well to the west of Alabama.

NEXT WEEK: A weak front will bring some risk of showers to the northern half of Alabama Monday night, but rain amounts will be light and spotty. The rest of the week looks warm and mostly dry with only isolated showers along with highs in the 80s. Still no sign of any high impact weather event for Alabama for at least the next seven to ten days.

ON THIS DATE IN 1912: An estimated F4 tornado struck Ponca City, Oklahoma. One person was killed, and 119 homes were damaged or destroyed. Dozens of oil derricks were flattened or twisted, southwest of town. The tornado was reportedly visible and audible for 20 miles.

ON THIS DATE IN 2011: Tornadoes touched down across a few states west of Alabama, some of which caused significant damage in Arkansas. An intense supercell thunderstorm tracked near the Little Rock area and a tornado emergency was declared for the city of Vilonia. A large EF2 wedge tornado struck the town, subsequently causing severe damage and killing four people. A strong EF3 tornado had also struck the Hot Springs Village area earlier that evening; that tornado caused severe damage and resulted in one death.

This was the beginning of the "Superoutbreak" of tornadoes April 25-28, 2011; a total of 360 tornadoes touched down killing 324 people. Alabama's big day could come on April 27.