In 1993, I was the relief meteorologist for Channel 42 here in Birmingham. On Monday, March 8th, the Chief Meteorologist, Fred Barnhill called me. He said that the MRF model was predicting that a powerful surface low would form over the northern Gulf and track northeastward. As the low made the turn up the East Coast, freezing temperatures would change precipitation to snow.
If the models were right, it would be a significant snow. That was hard to fathom, since the high temperature on that Monday had been a balmy 73F. In fact, temperatures were expected to be in the 70s through Wednesday when a cold front was expected to move through the area. The MRF continued to show the same solution Tuesday and Wednesday.
I ran several hotels across North and Central Alabama back then, and I called our General Managers and alerted them to prepare to implement winter weather plans on Friday and into the weekend. They thought I was nuts.
We pored over data on Thursday, even as winter storm watches were discussed. I told the hotel managers to order in extra food, ask employees to volunteer to stay in the hotels during the weekend and to check generators. To say they were skeptical was an understatement.
I prepared for the excitement of sleeping on a countertop in the Weather Center at the television station, while eating only deviled ham sandwiches and Vienna sausages all weekend.
Friday dawned cloudy. Clouds had moved in during the night. Temperatures were not as cold as we expected. Concerns rose that the much-hyped event might be a bust before it even got started.
I went to the station at noon and we looked through reams of data. The low had formed and it was going to be a big one. It was still clear that some places across Alabama were going to get a lot of snow. But where would it be? North Alabama? The I-59 corridor? Clanton?
The news director at the station broke the disappointing news that the news operation was going to shut down after the evening news. At 6:30, the news team would record the 10 p.m. newscast and go home before the worst set in. Quite possibly the biggest snowstorm in decades and we weren’t going to e covering it. Oh well.
Back to my office at my hotel company in Office Park. Just after mid-afternoon my boss, Cory Jackson, Sr., came in and issued his forecast that it wasn’t going to do anything. I went in an hour later and told him he might want to start home, it was snowing.
I headed down Old Leeds Road and to I-459 as it snowed moderately. During the evening, snow accumulated pretty quickly, but the snow mixed with rain and sleet at times, making some wonder if the big accumulations were going to happen.
More this afternoon.
