Hot & Humid With Isolated Rain

It was breezy and warm overnight with morning lows ranging from the mid to upper 60s farther east and low 70s farther west. A small line of showers developed across northwestern Alabama a few hours before daybreak and slowly moved northwest and has for the most part dissipated, but one shower is continuing to linger in southern Wayne County in TN, so if you are traveling south the Collinwood area, please take it slow on the roads, there could be some ponding.

9:10 am radar image of weakening shower in southern Wayne County, TN.

The rest of the Tennessee Valley is currently dry, under a mostly sunny sky.  As we head throughout the morning, temperatures will be heating up rapidly.  By lunch time most areas will be already in the mid 80s.  Surface high pressure is currently centered to our east along the eastern seaboard.  Somewhat lower dewpoints are clearly visible in the Mid Atlantic states and eastern portions of the Southeast.  The slightly drier air will be slowly moving westward into Alabama today, therefore lowering dewpoints a few degrees.

Surface Dewpoints as of 8:00 am Saturday morning. Notice the slightly drier air across the Mid Atlantic and Northeast with dewpoints in the 50s. Source: http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sfc_con_dewp.gif

Dewpoints will have an influence on where the best potential for showers and storms could pop up later today.  As daytime heating continues, expect more fair weather cumulus clouds to develop this afternoon, like yesterday.  During peak heating hours, with our air mass the most unstable, a few showers or storms may develop.  The locations for the best chance for rain look to be farther west in northwestern Alabama and also farther north in southern middle Tennessee, where there are slightly higher dewpoints. Despite a very small dewpoint gradient, everywhere has about a 10-20% chance for rain today.  Any showers or storms that do develop have the potential to produce heavy downpours due to the high moisture content of the atmosphere.

Over the next seven days we are going to heat up and dry out.  The rainfall deficit continues to increase across the Tennessee Valley, but no significant rainfall is expected during the next week.  High temperatures will likely be heating up into the mid 90s by Friday.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there.  Make sure to stay hydrated as it will be hot and humid and mainly dry this weekend.

-Jennifer Watson

Twitter: @Jwatson_Wx

Facebook: Jennifer Watson WHNT