The Next 24 Hours – Friday’s Showers

Posted on: 8:33 pm, July 12, 2012, by Jason Simpson

Rainy weather will continue on Friday, but as the coverage of showers and storms decreases, temperatures will increase. The chance of rain is down to about 50% through Friday evening; expect a daytime high in the 82 to 88 degree range. Some will be a little hotter than others due to uneven amounts of sunshine, clouds and rain.

The weak stationary front that has been sitting over the Tennessee Valley all weak is in a dissipating stage. Fronts gradually dissipate as the air masses on both sides of the diving line begin to have the same characteristics. In other words, the heat and humidity on the north side are about the same as the south side; with a lesser contrast in air mass, there is less wind convergence which leads to less initiation of thunderstorms. A weak upper-air disturbance west of us is getting weaker and sliding toward Texas thanks to a strengthening ridge off the East Coast. With both of those features out having less and less influence, the number of showers and storms will fall. The catch here is that since we expect more heat on Friday, some heavier “thunderstorms” are more likely instead of the widespread, soaking rain like we had Thursday. Some isolated heavier downpours could produce as much as 1 to 2 inches of additional rain; however, around 1/2 to 1 inch of rain is likely around the entire Valley through Friday evening.

As of 3 PM Thursday, several communities in North Alabama and Southern Tennessee had already seen more than 2 to 6 inches of rain, and more rain could push some of these totals up near 7 or 8 inches. The full extended forecast is available here: WHNT.com Forecast Page.

Some of the rain totals included:

6.36″ in Trinity
5.22″ in Priceville
5.02″ in Hartselle
4.54″ in South Huntsville
4.50″ in Huntsville (Airport)
4.19″ in Madison
3.75″ in Muscle Shoals (NW Alabama Regional)
3.64″ in Guntersville
2.97″ in Russellville
2.42″ in Leoma, TN
2.07″ in Cullman (St. Bernard)
1.47″ in Scottsboro

Climate Data for Huntsville on July 13th
Sunrise: 5:44 AM
Sunset: 8:01 PM
Average High: 91 Record: 108 (1930)
Average Low: 71 Record: 58 (1975)

Hours of Daylight – 14:18 (the same as Thursday)

Rain Chance by the Hour on Friday: