This is a mixed bag of weather information from all over. If you scroll down, you will see a quick look at Alabama, some USA temperature extremes, a focus on Chicago and St. Louis and a roundup of last night’s wind damage in Alabama. The NWS will be looking at the possible tornado in Demopolis, so I am sure a more complete analysis will be available later.
ALABAMA NOW
Cold arctic air continues to pour into the state. Temperatures were mostly in the 30s at midday over the north with the wind chill as low as 27 in the Huntsville area due to brisk west winds. All of the precipitation is gone. The cold front that brought our grief is over in the Carolinas down into North Florida.
SPOTLIGHTING CHICAGO
This is just one quick stop in the widespread wintry weather. At noon, Chicago had 28 degrees with snow. They are expecting 2-3 more inches by early this afternoon before it tapers off. The total snow accumulation for Chicago-land should be 4 to 6 inches from I-55 south and 8 to 10 inches in the western suburbs. The temperature will continue to fall this afternoon into the lower 20s with wind gusts to around 30 mph. We don’t want to think of the wind chill. Tonight it will drop to 10 to 15 degrees (temperature, that is) in the outlying areas. By Sunday, another invasion of cold arctic air will keep the high only in the teens. This is unusual for this early in the season, even for Chicago.
ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI
A gentleman, named Sean, is one of our regular readers. He has family in Missouri and he sent us this information from that area: Missouri Winter storm update from family and television reports back in the Show-Me State…
* Accumulations of up to 3 inches of sleet/ice with 2-5 inches of snow on top in St. Louis
* 565,000 without power in Metro St. Louis
* Interstate 70 closed for 60 miles in Mid-Missouri
* 16 inches of snow on the ground in Columbia, MO, where the University of Missouri canceled classes for the first time in 11 years.
* If all the precipitation in St. Louis had come down as snow yesterday and overnight, instead of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow, the Gateway City would be digging out from roughly 31 inches of snow today.
USA EXTREMES
86 for the high yesterday in Tampa and Ft. Myers. Bitter cold in Colorado this morning. It was 27 below zero at Antero Reservoir in North-Central Colorado. I believe that is the lowest temperature I have seen so far this season in the lower 48 states. Even out on the Plains east of the front range, it was 19 in Greeley. That town is located NNE of Denver and a little SE of Ft. Collins.
ALABAMA STORM DAMAGE
Here is a report from the NWS about last night’s damage. It is word for word from their preliminary roundup. As we mentioned above, a more complete assessment of Demopolis damage will be available later. (That damage report from near Havana is awfully close to my beloved growing up home of Havana Junction!)
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT…SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1018 AM CST FRI DEC 01 2006
..TIME… …EVENT… …CITY LOCATION… …LAT.LON…
..DATE… ….MAG…. ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. …SOURCE….
..REMARKS..
0930 PM TSTM WND DMG DEMOPOLIS 32.50N 87.83W
11/30/2006 MARENGO AL EMERGENCY MNGR
TRAILER DAMAGED…NUMEROUS TREES DOWN…CHIMNEY
DAMAGE…POSSIBLE TORNADO
0945 PM TSTM WND DMG GREENSBORO 32.70N 87.59W
11/30/2006 HALE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY.
0952 PM TSTM WND DMG FAUNSDALE 32.46N 87.59W
11/30/2006 MARENGO AL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY 80 NEAR
FAUNSDALE.
1010 PM TSTM WND DMG 12 N GREENSBORO 32.87N 87.59W
11/30/2006 HALE AL EMERGENCY MNGR
ONE BARN WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED AND SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN
DOWN EAST OF THE HAVANA COMMUNITY.
1020 PM TSTM WND DMG TUSCALOOSA 33.24N 87.54W
11/30/2006 TUSCALOOSA AL EMERGENCY MNGR
SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. SOME OF
THE LOCATIONS INCLUDE BROOKWOOD…COKER…LAKE
TUSCALOOSA…SIPSEY…AND NORTHPORT.
1028 PM TSTM WND DMG 6 NE WEST BLOCTON 33.18N 87.05W
11/30/2006 BIBB AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
A FEW TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN IN NORTH AND NORTHWEST BIBB
COUNTY.
1120 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 E SYLVAN SPRINGS 33.51N 87.00W
11/30/2006 JEFFERSON AL EMERGENCY MNGR
A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN IN THE MULGA COMMUNITY AND IN
THE BAYVIEW COMMUNITY. AN AWNING WAS TORN OFF A BUILDING
AT 6035 WARRIOR RIVER ROAD.
1140 PM TSTM WND DMG TRUSSVILLE 33.64N 86.59W
11/30/2006 JEFFERSON AL EMERGENCY MNGR
A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN IN AND AROUND TRUSSVILLE.
