The Monday morning edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes:
**NOTE: We upgraded to a new server over the weekend, and looks like we still have some bugs to work out this morning. The post vanished for a while, and some of the comments are being posted to the wrong entries. We will get it worked out this morning… sorry for the issues**
As I write this (about 5:30 a.m.)… the temperature in Hallock, MN is 36 degrees below zero. That is not a wind chill, that is the actual observed temperature. International Falls reports -29. Minneapolis is a little warmer with a toasty 15 below zero. Down at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, they are at 9 below. Parts of the Chicago metro yesterday remained below zero all day; and the forecast high today for Chicago is zero. For much of the Upper Midwest, this is the coldest air for them since 1996, and in a few spots, since 1985.
Thank goodness the core of this airmass will move more to the east, and not to the south, so we will catch just the periphery of the cold. Still, we will be colder today with a high in the mid 40s, and we will be well down in the 20s tomorrow morning, with some teens likely for the colder valleys across North Alabama.
WARMER DAYS: The upper air pattern over North America will finally deamplify a bit this week, meaning a warming trend. We will rise into the 50s tomorrow and Wednesday A weak wave will bring the chance of a little light rain to North Alabama Thursday afternoon into Thursday night, but amounts should be light. Then, cooler air drops in here for Friday and the weekend; looks like highs in the 47 to 54 degree range for the weekend with lows in the upper 20s or low 30s.
LONGER RANGE: As we peek into voodoo land, the 06Z GFS hints at the chance of strong to severe storms in the Feb 20 and Feb 24 time frame; we do need to remember that our primary spring tornado season is almost here (March, April, and May). Long time Alabama residents know the volatility we can see here in the next couple of months. We have seen big snow events as late as the first week of April, and major tornadoes have come as early as February. Be ready for anything.
STORM ALERT 2007: Our annual weather tour across Alabama comes to Blount County this week; we will be on Onenota Thursday night at the high school auditorium. The show begins at 7:00; the doors will open at 5:00. You will see some great Alabama weather stories, have a chance to meet our entire weather team, and we will be giving away 20 NOAA Weather Radio receivers.
Speaking of Weather Radio, we will be announcing a new program this week that will allow you to purchase a new digital NOAA Weather Radio receiver (from Midland Radio) for a very low price ($29.95) at Publix and Handy TV locations all over North-Central Alabama. We are going to really push this in coming weeks; every Alabama home must have one. Be sure and read Bill Murray’s excellent report on the Florida tornado outbreak to understand why we say this.
WEATHER PARTY: Lots of weather related news over on our sister site, weatherparty.com. Don’t forget to register while you are there, and you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the main page.
I will have the next Weather Xtreme video ready and posted by 3:30 this afternoon… enjoy the day!
