HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The FOX54 Weather Team has issued a FOX54 Weather Impact Alert day for the period beginning Wednesday night and continuing through the day on Thanksgiving. While we have seen little rain or thunderstorm activity over the last several weeks, we're about to make up for it at the most inconvenient time.
Showers and thunderstorms will be possible associated with a cold front that will move through the Tennessee Valley. After the passage of the cold front, we'll see temperatures drop for Black Friday and the weekend. Temperatures will drop to an extent that we see the official end to the growing season.
The timing for any storms that could be strong or severe and then rain would be 12:00 AM Wednesday - 6:00 PM Thursday. The main concern again would be the threat for strong thunderstorms and then the overall threat of rain through the day on Thanksgiving.
Rain could easily cause problems for people cooking their Thanksgiving Feast Outside. A Plan B should be created.
Make sure you have your phone or something that could provide the latest information on storms and rain. It's also a good idea to have an umbrella handy if you're going to be outside Thanksgiving.
The system is a cold front. By Wednesday night the cold front will be sitting to our west and then move through the Tennessee Valley Wednesday night and Thursday morning. This could impact late arrivals into HSV, BNA, and BHM. Check with your airline for updates. This could also impact very early morning flights on Thanksgiving.
The cold front could bring some stronger storms to the Tennessee Valley overnight and through the earliest hours of Thursday morning. The SPC has placed much of North Alabama under a Marginal Risk for Severe Weather. The biggest concern here would be the threat for damaging winds and heavy rain overnight Wednesday and very early Thursday morning. There is a very low non-zero threat of a tornado, but atmospherically that is unlikely.
After the chance for strong storms, we'd be looking at just some needed rain through Thursday afternoon. As of this typing, that rain doesn't appear to be widespread but even scattered showers can cause problems if you're frying or smoking your Thanksgiving Turkey.
If we run futurecast and try and time the whole event out you'll see that the best chance of showers and strong storms arrives late Wednesday night and then early Thursday morning. This is where we get the chance for strong/severe storms.
After about 9:00 AM Thursday, we're looking at scattered showers through the day Thursday. Again, Thanksgiving will not be a wash but even a few scattered showers could ruin Thanksgiving preparations or activities.
The rain ends and the sky clears Thursday night and into Black Friday.
For Black Friday and the weekend the impact changes. We'll be talking about air so cold we'll see the official end to our growing season. Keep in mind we have yet to hit the freezing mark across much of the Tennessee Valley. That changes this weekend. Low temperatures Saturday through Tuesday of next week will be in the 20s. High temperatures during this period will only be in the low and mid-40s.
