Autumn Finally Returns!

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

WAFB First Alert Quickcast:

Several lines of strong to severe t-storms marched through the area late this afternoon and into the early evening hours. In addition to a Tornado Watch that was in effect through most of the afternoon, there were more than a dozen Severe T-Storm Warnings and at least one Tornado Warning. Fortunately, reports of severe weather have been limited, but there were at least a few neighborhoods that saw downed trees and power lines as the storms rolled through.

Here's the REALLY good news -- as the line continues eastward through the lower Mississippi Valley, well begin to enjoy a very pleasant change to our local weather!  Skies should be clearing early Tuesday, with sunrise temps for Tuesday morning down in the 50°s for most WAFB neighborhoods.  Then it’s sunny, cooler and much less humid for Tuesday afternoon, with highs only in the mid 70°s.  Tuesday is likely to be a little breezy at times but we doubt that anyone will complain about the autumn feel to the air.

It looks like just many WAFB viewers along and north of the I-10/12 corridor can expect morning lows in the 40°s for Wednesday’s sun-up, with another beautiful afternoon as highs climb into the upper 70°s to near 80°.  We’ll post the forecast as “fair, mild and dry” right into the weekend with a modest warming trend getting us back to the mid 80°s by week’s end.

We continue to watch two systems in the tropics: Fay and Gonzalo.  After briefly becoming the season’s fifth hurricane yesterday, Fay is losing ‘her’ tropical structure as she heads east over cooler North Atlantic waters.  So it’s “goodbye” to Fay, at least from a threats standpoint.

Gonzalo does not appear that ‘he’ will become a threat to the U.S. mainland or the Bahamas but ‘he’ is still a serious concern for portions of the Lesser Antilles and possibly Bermuda later in the week.  Gonzalo is on target to attain hurricane strength tonight or early tomorrow as ‘he’ passes close to the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and (hopefully) east of Puerto Rico.  The extended forecast for Gonzalo takes him to Category 2 strength and there is still a potential for Gonzalo to briefly reach Category 3 (a ‘major’ hurricane) later this week.

So let’s get through the evening with as little impact as possible, then it’s smooth sailing for the rest of the week!