Dry Now, Rain Arrives Late This Week… Tuesday Forecast Update — 4:15pm

Good Tuesday afternoon! The sunshine returned this morning and we’ve seen a very nice December day with highs reaching into the upper 50’s in some spots. Clear skies today and tonight will help contribute to our temperatures teetering around the freezing mark tonight.

Sunshine remains in the forecast for Wednesday with temperatures climbing back into the mid 50’s. A few more clouds return Wednesday night ahead of the next system. Thursday will be dry for the majority of Alabama with clouds increasing throughout the day. A few showers are possible in northern Alabama. Temperature will remain in the 50’s through the end of the work week.

Clouds and rain settle in Friday afternoon and evening. Temperatures will be cool in the low 50’s as the rain develops and moves across Alabama during the afternoon on Friday. Things will be fairly soggy Friday night as we could see anywhere from 1-2″ of rain across Central Alabama. The highest rain amounts will be over west Central Alabama by Saturday evening once the system has moved east.

We’ll see an end to the rain Saturday morning for western Alabama, and eastern Alabama will dry out Saturday afternoon. Temperatures will be cool as a north wind pushes the clouds and rain out, highs just in the low 50’s.

Sunshine for Sunday and Monday will the mercury holding steady in the low 50’s for each afternoon and lows down into the mid 30’s. Some clouds try to swing into Central Alabama Tuesday afternoon which could keep our temperatures cool for the middle part of Christmas week.

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Peter Crank

WVUA Staff Meteorologist

Twitter: crankyweather

A Look Back… 14 Years Ago… December 16, 2000

It was 14 years ago today, when Tuscaloosa County was devastated by a tornado that formed from a supercell storm originating in Mississippi. This particular supercell was strongest in an outbreak of storms that stretched from Mississippi to North Carolina. A tornado was first noted with this storm just north of Meridian, MS. The cell tracked northeast along the I-20/59 corridor and produced a tornado that tracked through southern Tuscaloosa County. The first structural damage reported was near Englewood School, where homes were destroyed. The tornado then continued east just missing Hillcrest High School and crossing US Highway 82 and Interstate 20/59 east of Tuscaloosa, damaging shopping centers, homes, mobile homes, and commercial businesses along the way.

This is severe weather coverage from Jon Mason during the December 16th, 2000 Tuscaloosa tornado. Our television station was located on Jug Factory Road at the time. The tornado was just feet away from the television station! Jon Mason stayed on the air the entire time.

This is a reporter package from the day of the event. The tornado was rated an F-4, with winds approaching 260 MPH.

The path of the tornado was 750 yards wide and 18 miles long, with estimated wind speeds of 207-260 miles per hour. The National Weather Service determined the tornado to be an F4 on the Fujita Storm Intensity Scale, which translates into “Devastating Damage, whole frame houses leveled, leaving piles of debris; steel structures badly damaged; trees debarked by small flying debris; cars and trains thrown some distances or rolled considerable distances; large missiles generated”. This storm killed 11 people, and injured another 144. The total damage cost is estimated to be around $12.5 million.

Peter Crank

WVUA Staff Meteorologist

Twitter: crankyweather