When could Alabama get some rain this week?
Alabama’s long dry spell may end this week, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters expect the dome of high pressure that has brought beautiful fall weather to the state for days to shift eastward this week and allow several disturbances to bring some much-needed rain.
A seven-day precipitation outlook from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center (shown at the top of this post) shows parts of Alabama — mainly in the east and south — getting up to an inch of rain over the next week, which could help slow the spread of drought conditions that have been expanding some of those areas.
Here’s the latest drought report from the U.S. Drought Monitor, released last Thursday:
More of Alabama is drier than it should be thanks to two weeks with nearly no rainfall. The areas in brown are now in moderate drought, which is D1 on a scale of D0 to D4.
The day for rain looks to be Wednesday. Rain could start during the day and last (on and off) into the overnight hours as a cold front approaches, the weather service said.
There could also be a storm or two — even a strong storm — with damaging winds being the main threat.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center has added a Level 1 out of 5 (or marginal risk) for severe weather for north Alabama for Wednesday:
Thunderstorms will be possible across all of Alabama on Wednesday, and isolated severe storms will be possible in the areas in dark green.
The strongest storms could have damaging wind gusts and possibly some hail, forecasters said.
The rain and storms are expected to move out of the state by Thursday, and drier weather will return through at least the first part of the weekend.
Another cold front could enter the picture over the weekend, according to the weather service.