Author Archives: murray
Tornadoes and Cities
There is a myth that tornadoes do not strike big cities. You don’t have to look very far back through the historic record to debunk this myth. The truth is that cities are a small part of the entire land … Continue reading
Great Fireworks Photos…
Kathy Bell sent these great fireworks shots from the Fourth of July in Orange Beach. I asked her for a few tips on how they were made. She replied: They were taken using a Canon EF 24-70 mm 1:2.8 lens. … Continue reading
The Wreck of the World’s Fair Flyer
The dark storm clouds to the north worried engineer Charles Hindman as he piloted the Missouri Pacific/Rio Grande crack passenger train The World’s Fair Flyer on its south and eastbound run on the evening of August 7th, 1904. He could … Continue reading
CODE ORANGE Air Quality Alert for Friday
Strong high pressure over Alabama is producing a very stable airmass. Unfortunately, stable can quickly become stagnant, and that will be the case this time as well. The Alabama Partners for Clean Air have issued a Code Orange Air Quality … Continue reading
Help Needed: Camille Interview
I am reaching out to the vast network of readers on the AlabamaWX.com blog. I need one or two guests for our August 17th WeatherBrains episode which is going to be a Hurricane Camille 40th Anniversary. If you know someone … Continue reading
Hummingbirds!
Hummingbirds are some of the most graceful and spectacular animals on earth. Friend and budding photographer Kathy Bell captured these beautiful images this week. Thanks for sharing them Kathy…and keep shooting!
Upcoming WeatherBrains
Some great guests are coming up in the next few weeks on WeatherBrains, the weekly netcast that’s all about weather. Here is your chance to participate. Put your thinking cap on and help us make the show even better. This … Continue reading
Sound Off: Help Us Make the Warning Process Better
Thank you for indulging me as I get a little homework done for WeatherBrains. In a few weeks, we will entertain Dr. Eve Gruntfest of the Social Sciences Woven into Meteorology. She is one of the leading researchers in the … Continue reading
The Mann Gulch Fire
Smoke jumpers are specially trained firefighters who parachute into remote areas to fight wildfires on difficult terrain. The best time to fight a forest fire is when it is small. Unfortunately, prior to 1939, it could take a long time … Continue reading
Big Storms to our Northwest
Powerful storms over the Missouri Bootheel and Northeast Arkansas tonight have been causing lots of problems. These storms extend southeastward in an arc down through the Jackson TN area then into southern Tennessee about 50 miles northwest of the Florence, … Continue reading
