The last day of summer certainly feels like a taste of Fall in North Alabama! Crystal clear blue skies and sunshine have greeted us to start the new work week. While the pleasant temperatures will stick around, the sunshine will not be here much longer. Tonight, however, expect clear skies, allowing temperatures to drop into the low 50s by Tuesday morning. Some outlying areas and those in the higher elevations could see temperatures in the upper 40s once again tomorrow morning. Jackets are a must heading off to work or school Tuesday morning, but we'll warm up nicely once again back into the upper 70s by the afternoon. One noticeable difference tomorrow will be clouds on the increase throughout the day. Skies will transition from mostly sunny to overcast by Tuesday evening, but we will stay dry. This cloud cover is leading to our next rain chances here in North Alabama as the remnants of Tropical Storm Beta approaches the region.
This afternoon, Beta is very close to making landfall as a relatively weak tropical storm along the Texas coast. The main concerns with Beta will certainly be rain and perhaps some flooding concerns across parts of Texas and Louisiana. Here at home, we will begin to see Beta's effects as early as Wednesday evening, as showers will be on the increase from west to east. Widespread rain is expected late Wednesday night into Thursday. The rainy and slightly humid pattern will continue well into the upcoming weekend, but the wettest day looks to be on Thursday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will remain in the forecast through the weekend before a cold front brings much drier and cooler air to North Alabama Sunday evening. Rainfall totals do look substantial in North Alabama over the next seven days, with widespread totals of two to three inches expected. However, given that much of this rain will fall over several days, we are not too concerned about flooding at this time. The threat for severe weather also appears low. High temperatures will warm up to near average in the low 80s and lows near 60 by late week.
