An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…
Rain will continue to push southward out of Central Alabama during the next hour. My rain gauge here in the northern part of Shelby County is showing 0.35″ since midnight; our SKYCAM site in downtown Birmingham reports 0.49″. The amounts get heavier as you go north; the Cullman SKYCAM is showing 0.86″. As expected, the storms weakened during the pre-dawn hours, and for most folks it was just a heavy downpour with some thunder and gusty winds.
COOLER AIR ROLLS IN: Temperatures across Alabama today will be 10 to 15 degrees cooler than yesterday, and the cooling trend will continue all the way through the Easter weekend. The air is also dry, and we see no chance of rain through Sunday. We will focus on the freeze potential in coming days. Here are the numbers straight from the 00Z run of the GFS (for Birmingham):
Thursday morning 35
Friday morning 32
Saturday morning 31
Sunday morning 27
Monday morning 33
Remember, this is not a “one number” place, and lows will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. But, generally speaking those numbers look pretty good. No doubt Easter Sunday will be the coldest morning, when a widespread light freeze is likely. Going into the weather vault, the record low for Sunday, April 8 is 29, recorded in 1990, and we sure have a chance to beat it.
The GFS is coming in with a high of only 52 for Birmingham on Saturday, and we might have to adjust our temperatures downward a bit over on the seven day forecast page if the 12Z data confirms this. These temperatures are about 20 degrees below normal for this time of the year.
Needless to say, you will need to protect tender plants and vegetation that don’t like sub-freezing temperatures… and warm jackets are appropriate for Easter sunrise services.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND: The 00Z GFS is now more aggressive with the rain event at the middle of next week… it shows a pretty good rain event one week from today (Wednesday April 11). Another good rain event is on the board around April 17. Rain events are a good thing since our rainfall deficit will be well over ten inches by the weekend.
THIRTY YEARS AGO TODAY: An F5 tornado tore through the northern part of Birmingham, and is usually called the “Smithfield Tornado”; named after the area which received the greatest damage: Smithfield Estates. The tornado began around 3 pm, only four miles northwest of downtown Birmingham near U.S. Highway 78, and then traveled northeast for 15 miles at 60 mph, crossing Interstate 65. At it’s widest point, the tornado was 3/4 of a mile wide. Over 150 homes were damaged with almost 50 completely destroyed. A total of 22 people were killed with over 130 injured. Bill Castle put together an excellent story on the Smithfield tornado on our Storm Alert 2007 TV special, which is available over on our video page (scroll down to the archive section).
SUPEROUTBREAK VIDEO: Here is J.B.’s look back at the April 3-4, 1974 Superoutbreak of tornadoes (another Bill Castle production)…
WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page. Lots of interesting reading over there.
Thanks to J.B. Elliott, Bill Murray, John Oldshue, and Ashley Brand for burning the midnight oil, watching the storms so I would grab a nap. I am speaking this morning at the Bessemer Civic Center at 10:00… and will be back in the station early this afternoon, so the afternoon Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 3:30. Have a great day!
