Huntsville's Weekend Weather...by James Payton

On the weather map...After getting some good soaking rains from Fay this week the weather will temporarily transition back into a normal summertime pattern for the holiday weekend with temperatres near normal & a chance of afternoon showers & thunderstorms early in the weekend. It will be after Labor Day before our area would feel any effects from any tropical activity.

GUSTAV HEADING FOR THE GULF...As of this writing Gustav has cleared Haiti & is moving northwest towards the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to become a major hurricane & will likely affect the Gulf Coast on Monday of next week. If you're headed to the Gulf Coast beaches anywhere between Houston & Tampa I encourage you to keep up to date on Gustav this weekend. Unless unexpected changes happen a part of this coastline is likely to begin evacuations this weekend. We'll have forecasts, discussions & model runs over at my blog....so feel free to check in through the weekend.

HERE'S MY OFFICIAL TENNESSEE VALLEY WEEKEND FORECAST...

For Friday...Variably cloudy. 1 in 5 chance of rain. High 89.
Friday Night...Mostly cloudy. Perhaps a lingering shower in spots. Low 67.
Saturday...Mostly cloudy. 1 in 5 chance of afternoon storms. High 90.
Saturday Night...Partly cloudy. Low 68.
Sunday...Mostly sunny. High 91.
FOOTBALL FORECAST...With the college football season starting this weekend we will begin to put weather forecasts for Alabama, Auburn & Alabama A&M football games...

Clemson vs. Alabama (Sat. 7 pm CT - Atlanta, GA) - Game is indoors in the Georgia Dome. If you're tailgating highs will be around 90 with a small chance of an afternoon storm.

Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn (Sat. 7 pm CT - Auburn, AL) - Should be partly cloudy with a very small chance of a shower at gametime. Temps should start in the low to mid 80s dipping into the 70s later in the game.

Tennessee State at Alabama A&M (Sat. 6 pm CT - Huntsville, AL) - Mostly cloudy skies with a small chance of a shower or storm at kickoff. Temps will be in the mid to upper 80s falling to near 80 by the fourth quarter.

LAST WEEK'S WEATHER TRIVIA QUESTION...TRUE or FALSE...Since the National Hurricane Center uses an alphabetical list to name tropical systems, all 26 letters A-Z are used to name storms. The answer is FALSE. The National Hurricane Center uses 21 letters. They do not use the letters Q, U, X, Y, or Z due to the lack of names.

THIS WEEK'S WEATHER TRIVIA QUESTION...At what point on the hurricane scale is a hurricane considered a 'major' hurricane by the National Hurricane Center?

A. Category 2
B. Category 3
C. Category 4
D. Category 5

Answer will appear in next week.
Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

~James Payton
Huntsville about.com Meteorologist
http://uahweather.blogspot.com

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