Author Archives: murray
New Watch Coming Shortly
A new tornado watch is forthcoming for North Alabama according to the NWS in Hunstville. It will go until 4 p.m. The squall line is over eastern Mississippi, about 40 miles west of the Tri-Cities, 60 miles west of Hamilton … Continue reading
A Look at the Alabama Weather Situation – 8:30 a.m.
A dynamic weather system is poised to bring severe weather to Alabama today. The Storm Prediction Center continues to have the southern two thirds of Alabama in a moderate risk outlook for severe weather today. That moderate risk extends roughly … Continue reading
Tornado Safety Rules
Since it has been a while since our last significant severe weather episode, it would be good to brush up on our tornado safety rules… Tornadoes are nature’s most violent weather phenomena. Despite vastly improved detection and warning systems, seconds … Continue reading
Clouds Hang Tough
Clouds are hanging tough across North and North Central Alabama this morning, especially north of I-20. They are the wraparound cold air stratocumulus clouds that we see in the cold air advection pattern following a frontal passage. They should be … Continue reading
Tips about Rail Travel
Long distance train travel is a barely surviving icon of American transportation history. Air travel virtually made long distance trains obsolete, which is a shame. By the late 1960s, the major railroads were bent on destroying passenger travel, so they … Continue reading
Alabama Weather Update – 9:50 a.m.
A fairly strong cold front is moving eastward across Alabama this morning. Winds shift from west to northwest and the temperature drops about ten degrees to mark its passage. Readings have fallen back into the 40s over Northwest Alabama and … Continue reading
Good Morning from The Crescent
It is a beautiful morning in our nation’s capital as the northbound Crescent, AMTRAK’s New Orleans to New York passenger train switches from diesel to electric locomotives. We are sitting aboard the train in splendid Union Station. About four hours … Continue reading
Ridin’ the Rails
I love to fly. It truly is a miracle of travel that I can get on a plane at the Birmingham Airport and be on the ground in New York City in less than two hours. But plane travel is … Continue reading
Dam Break in Georgia – 1977
Toccoa Falls College is a beautiful place. Located in Stephens County in Northeast Georgia, the picturesque campus is about 100 miles northeast of Atlanta.  The Christian liberal arts college was moved to Toccoa in 1911 because of the railroad. The … Continue reading
Election Day 2002 Tornado in Southeast Alabama
The Alabama Governor’s Race was a hotly contested one between Democratic Incumbent Don Siegleman and Republican challenger Bob Riley. As some residents of the Southeast Alabama town of Abbeville, Alabama watched election returns on this date in 2002, television coverage … Continue reading
