West Alabama Monday Briefing

A rainy start to the week will see a break from the wet stuff at mid-week and the chances for rain return Thursday night through the coming weekend according to the national Weather Service in Birmingham.

There are Marginal (1 in 5) Risks for strong to severe thunderstorms tonight south of the I20/59 corridor and again tomorrow night for all of West Alabama. Click HERE for the complete report on the thunderstorm and rain forecast.

The Forecast:

Today

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 1pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 1pm and 4pm. High near 74. Southeast wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight

A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4am. Cloudy, with a low around 66. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Tuesday

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 7am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 7am and 1pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 83. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. West wind 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday

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Topping the News:

Some 6,000 workers at the Vance Mercedes Plant and the Woodstock Battery Plant begin a union vote today. It is part of a $40 million effort by the United Auto Workers to organize non-union auto plants across the south. The vote will end Friday.

The union vote begins amid controversy as former Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban and the Universities of Alabama and Auburn have asked the UAW to quit using unauthorized videos and merchandise to imply they are endorsing the union.

In his written message Saban says his comments were used out of context to make it sound like he was endorsing the UAW in the Mercedes vote. Instead, Saban pointed out the statement used by UAW was actually about college football players form a union.

Saban owns seven Mercedes dealerships and has addressed the Mercedes workers in Vance several times.

Alabama and Auburn have issued cease and desist orders against UAW over unauthorized use of Trademarks on union merchandise to imply their support of the union.

Applebee’s will be closing 105 and 135 restaurants across the country in the near future while IHOP will close between 20 and 25 locations. Tuscaloosa has an Applebee’s in University Mall and an IHOP on Skyland Blvd. West. It is not known yet if either will be involved in the closures.

A 6-year project in the Pickens County Town of Carrollton has come to fruition. Officials are celebrating the opening of a new municipal playground. Carrollton worked with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to develop the facility.

Topping Sports News:

Every single SEC Softball team received a bid to the NCAA Post-season Championship Tournament. The Tide is the #14 National Seed in the tournament and will host a regional for the 19th time in program history. Bama’s regional will include Clemson, S.E. Louisiana and South Carolina Upstate.

Tickets are now on sale for the Tuscaloosa Regional at Rhoads Stadium which begins Friday, at 1 p.m. with Clemson (34-17) facing Southeastern Louisiana (45-13) on the ACC Network before Alabama (33-17) and USC Upstate (30-21) face off at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

From UA Athletics: Alabama baseball relied heavily on its pitching staff on Sunday, holding off LSU for the 4-3 series-clinching win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With the victory, the 25^th-ranked Crimson Tide is now 32-19 overall and 12-15 in Southeastern Conference play.

Alabama jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, plating three in the second and one in the third. The Tigers got on the board with a run in the fourth and rallied for two in the eighth but would get no closer for the 4-3 final. The Tigers' late offense was stalled by the relief duo of Tyler Fay and Braylon Myers. The pair combined for the final 2.0 scoreless frames with Myers picking up his third save of the season and second of the week.

Ben Hess (4-4) earned the win thanks to arguably his best start of the season.

Alabama will close out the 2024 regular season at Auburn from May 16-18. The first two matchups at Plainsman Park are set for a 6 p.m. CT start followed by a 5 p.m. first pitch in the regular season finale on Saturday.

Hillcrest and ACA are headed to the finals for their respective prep baseball classifications this week.

Hillcrest (26-10) bested Spanish Fort over the weekend to setup the 6A Championship Series with Hartselle (28-7). They play Thursday at 11:00am. at Hillcrest.

The other Tuscaloosa team known as the Patriots; American Christian Academy faces Corner after eliminating Bibb County last week.

ACA (25-13) begins play against Corner (27-7) Wednesday at 2:00pm at ACA.

Have a magnificent Monday and congrats to Bama Softball, Tide Baseball along with Hillcrest and ACA. Roll Tide and Go Pats!!

Source: West Alabama Monday Briefing