Up to 6 inches of rain possible this week in Alabama
It’s possible that parts of Alabama could get up to 6 inches of rain in the next week, which could be a big help in fighting Alabama’s ongoing drought.
No severe weather is expected in Alabama, according to the National Weather Service, but periods of what forecasters called “soaking” rain will be possible in the state starting Thursday night and lasting through the weekend.
And the rain could add up, according to forecasters.
The Weather Prediction Center’s seven-day precipitation outlook suggests all of Alabama could get at least an inch of rain over the next week — but parts of central and Alabama could get up to 5 inches (see that outlook at the top of this post).
The National Weather Service in Birmingham was even more optimistic when it comes to central Alabama. The office put out a forecast that showed parts of central Alabama getting up to 6 inches from Thursday night through Monday morning:
Here’s the rainfall forecast for central Alabama through Monday.NWS
Any rain will be beneficial when it comes to Alabama’s drought, which has worsened a good deal thanks to a drier-than-average September and October.
The last report from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that Level 4 out of 4 drought conditions were continuing in parts of north Alabama, and Level 3 drought had expanded to cover more of the state.
As of last week only 0.4 percent of Alabama was not considered to be in drought.
It was a mixed bag of news on the drought front in Alabama last week. Parts of north Alabama remained in Level 4 out of 4 drought, but not as much as last week. However, most of the state was either in some level of drought or on the verge of drought.U.S. Drought Monitor
The next Drought Monitor report is scheduled to be released on Thursday.