Well its January 2020 so that means we’ve crossed the Perihelion day in which earth reaches its closest distance from the sun. The big weather story this week is a system that will bring a risk of severe weather to the region this weekend. Its not too often we forecast a severe weather event that is over five days out but the global forecast models are advertising some impressive severe weather parameters. The wind shear data and instability forecast parameters seem quite robust for areas across the Mississippi River Valley and stretching east into Alabama on Saturday. While I alert viewers to be weather alert for a severe weather threat this week, I caution that there is much we don’t know with respect to the threat levels and areas with the highest risk. I do know that we still have some river flooding happening in Alabama so one of the big concerns will be the addition of more heavy rain this weekend. It is likely rain and storms will impact plans for Saturday but at this stage I would make sure you have a plan in place in the event this severe weather threat materializes.
January can be a very active weather month for our region and it looks like the weather pattern will remain very active through the January 15th timeframe. Look for an above average temperature pattern to linger into the week of January 14th and 15th, along with another risk for heavier rain and possibly storms around the same timeframe.
-Wes
