This is a new feature and it will always be posted under the “Hodgepodge” Category. I ran this idea by James Spann and Bill Murray and they think it is a great idea. Growing up as a kid, I was always a fan of Lowell Thomas of the CBS Radio Network (thanks to 50,000 watt WWL, New Orleans which boomed in at night in Havana Junction). He traveled the world to find some of the most interesting stories. What you will see here will never compare to any of that and mine will be weather related.. However, after almost a half-century in weather work, all of it here in Alabama, I wanted to tell some stories of some interesting (I hope) “events” that happened along the way…some events rather odd, scary and funny.
I have at least 50 pounds of old files and stories in my weather office and a lot of this will be from those. Lots of memories good and bad. This feature will not replace “Weather by the Numbers” and this will not be as long.
Will not post every day and certainly not on “high-traffic” days on the blog. I also promise to not write about my friend, Little Miss Molly, because I write about her on the afternoon edition of the 7-day forecast and e-forecast. Just two items today:
* Did you know that an estimated eight million bolts of lightning strike this old world every day, many of of them with temperatures of 54,000 degrees! I have had three close calls in my life–one standing only 15 feet from James Spann. Will tell that story later. No wonder I am more afraid of lightning than a charging bear, any snake over six inches long and tailgaters (not the ones at football games) That is why I always say “Lightning is frighteningl”
* Early next week, in the first days of April, the weather is beginning to look stormy, possibly severe. We cannot (must not!) ever forget the “Super Outbreak” of April 3-4, 1974, 37 years ago, the nation’s greatest tornado disaster. North Alabama was devastated to say the least. I was looking back on some old files of that great event this morning and I wanted to use these two comments made years later:
…From Spencer Black, the EMA Director for Limestone County: “It was almost like a nightmare and I did not think I was going to wake up. Total chaos and destruction”
…From Bob Dunnavant, Huntsville Times: “It was like something out of the Old Testament, a pillar of clouds, black, majestic and ominous…so I hugged that ditch and wondered how far the storm would carry my body”
FINAL NOTE: If I see that this little project will be a failure, I will cancel.
