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NOVEMBER BLIZZARD: What a storm across the nation’s mid-section this morning… a blizzard warning is up for the western half of South Dakota; Ellsworth Air Force Base is reporting heavy snow with a sustained northwest wind of 51 mph, gusting to 66 mph, with 30 degrees and a wind chill index of 12. How about that to start your day.
In the warm sector of the storm, a band of showers and storms is moving slowly through parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Northeast Texas; SPC maintains a slight risk of severe weather today for a large part of Louisiana and smaller parts of the adjacent states.
THE ALABAMA WEATHER STORY: One more dry and mild day for Alabama; we will enjoy a good supply of sunshine today with a high in the 75 to 79 degree range; a few spots over West Alabama might even touch 80 this afternoon. Clouds will return tonight in advance of the approaching front.
We will continue to mention a chance of showers tomorrow, but as we have discussed all week this won’t be a big rain event. Rain totals should be a quarter-inch or less for most places, and we don’t expect any severe weather with only limited instability and moisture levels. I doubt if we even see much thunder… just a few passing rain showers. Most of the showers will come from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and the rain should be over in time for most high school football games; maybe a little lingering rain over the far eastern side of Alabama tomorrow evening.
COOL WEEKEND: The weekend looks excellent with sunshine returning in full supply Saturday and Sunday; highs will be in the mid 60s with lows well down in the 40s; the colder spots will visit the 30s at daybreak Sunday.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: Saturday is homecoming at Auburn; the Tigers will host Tennessee Martin at 1:30 (pay per view only)… the sky will be sunny with a kickoff temperature of 64 degrees, falling into the 50s by the fourth quarter. Alabama is on the road; they will play LSU in Baton Rouge at 2:30 Saturday afternoon (CBS TV); the sky will be sunny with a kickoff temperature of 72 degrees, falling into the 60s during the second half.
ACTIVE WEATHER NEXT WEEK: Things get busy in the weather office next week; one impulse will bring periods of rain on Veteran’s Day Tuesday; the latest guidance still suggests around one-half inch of rain possible, but no severe weather with no surface based instability. A major system is still due in here at the end of next week, Friday November 14, which will bring the potential for heavy rain and strong to severe storms. The GFS has been amazingly consistent on this system; it bears watching in coming days. This is the fall tornado season in Alabama, you know.
TROPICS: How about Tropical Storm Paloma forming in the Caribbean… see the Weather Xtreme video for all the graphics; this is expected to become a hurricane as it crosses Cuba late in the weekend; from there it heads northeast across the Bahamas and into the open Atlantic. Paloma is no threat to the Gulf of Mexico.
TWITTER: Don’t forget, you can follow our news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. And, my personal Twitter feed is here if you want to keep up with my adventures in life. Twitter is a short messaging service you can receive via the web, cell phone, or IM.
STORM ALERT XTREME: Want to be trained as a storm spotter? Want to join the ABC 33/40 Skywatcher team? Our annual training event, Storm Alert Xtreme, is coming up on Saturday November 15 at the BJCC during the annual Birmingham International Auto Show. You will be trained by the best SKYWARN trainer in the nation, our own Brian Peters (he has trained over 6,000 Alabama storm spotters over the years), and learn from one of the most brilliant weather researchers in the country, our own Dr. Tim Coleman. We encourage all of our Skywatchers to attend this every year; you simply cannot get enough training. We will begin at 9:30, and be out by 3:30. And, everyone that attends Storm Alert Xtreme gets free admission to the Alabama International Auto Show. There is no admission charge, and no need to register. Just show up, but get there early for a good seat. We had a packed house last year.
Today I am speaking at the Public Employees Safety Council of Alabama Conference in Gardendale… I will be back in the office by early afternoon and the next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 3:30. Enjoy the day!
