When ABC 33/40 signed on the air on the very first day, on September 1, 1996, the weather team consisted of Bob Baron, Bob Symon, and Mark Prater. Bob Baron was on the air weeknights at 5, 6, and 10:00 that first month; he is a long time weathercaster from Huntsville who owns Baron Services, one of the largest weather equipment vendors in the nation, specializing in radar hardware and software. He was here in a temporary capacity while the station was in the process of hiring me; I went on the air on October 1, 1996. Bob Symon stayed for just a few months; he left in December 1996 when John Oldshue took over weekend duty. From that time up until August of last year, our weather team remained unchanged. You don’t see a TV weather team staying together for almost 8 years, but that was the case here. We had a great run together.

When Mark resigned last August, it put us in a position to hire a new full time weather person, and I wasn’t sure how the response would be to the opening. Quite frankly, I was blown away. We received over 100 tapes and resumes from meteorologists all over the nation. I had no idea so many people wanted to move to Birmingham and forecast the weather on television here. I enjoyed seeing all of the tapes, and we talked with several people. But after the long process the job went to a young man from Cullman county, Jason Simpson. Jason joined us last month, and his passion, enthusiasm, knowledge of the science, and ability to relate to people is refreshing. You will get to meet Jason and learn more about him on our annual Storm Alert tour, which begins Thursday night in Ashville at Ashville High School. In addition, we will have plenty of great Alabama storm stories and some excellent information you can use.

The show begins at 7:00, but get there early for a good seat. If you can't make this show this week, we will be in Northport next Tuesday February 8 at the Northport Civic Center at 7:00.

The afternoon video is on the server:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

The headline says "Enjoy Saturday" because it looks like it will featjure the best weather during the next week. Temperatures should even reach the low 60s in most places. Enjoy it because we are about a week from going into the deep freeze. See it all in the video...

*MID-WEEK STORM: A miserable, cold rain will fall on Alabama through Thursday morning thanks to a storm system moving along the Gulf coast. I expect temperatures to hold in the 40 to 44 degree range all the way through tomorrow evening. I still can't rule out a few snow flakes over the northern quarter of Alabama Thursday morning as the cold upper trough passes just to the north of us. Temperatures will be above freezing at the surface, so if any snow flakes do fall there will be no associated problems.

*STORM SYSTEM EARLY NEXT WEEK: We will highlight rain and strong storms Monday of next week as a major system moves out of Mexico, and phases with a northern branch storm. Too early to determine if we will have enough unstable air for severe storms on Monday, but it is not out of the question, especially for south Alabama.

MUCH colder blasts in here during the middle of next week. The new 12Z GFS has a little twist in keeping the main trough west of the state on Tuesday and swinging another storm system through here. Not sure this is correct; one way or another we will be in the deep freeze by Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe a few snow flurries during the cold snap, but nothing now to suggest a major winter storm threat for us. COLD is the word for February 8-12.

Thanks to my friends over at Trinity Christian Adademy in Oxford for inviting me to speak at their chapel service today... what a great audience!

The morning video is on the server:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

Plenty to talk about this morning:

MID-WEEK STORM: A very nice little weather system will bring rain at times to Alabama through Thursday morning. Scattered light rain today, becoming more widespread and heavier late tonight and tomorrow. The surface low track is in a perfect position for snow here, but there simply is no cold air in place. There is hope for some snow on Thursday morning, however, as the upper trough swings through north Alabama. Dynamic cooling from the cold air aloft could mean some light snow or flurries for some people in north Alabama, but surface temperatures remain above freezing and we don't expect any issues if light snow does form under the cold upper trough. Our friends to the west will get some snow from this later today, including places like Dallas. Tulsa, and Abilene.

SUN RETURNS!: Hey... brighter days are ahead with bone crushing subsidence meaning sunshine on Friday and Saturday.

MAJOR PATTERN CHANGE: As we have discussed here for days, the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) spikes strongly negative around the 10th of the month, and the GFS has finally come around with a big phased storm early next week, and a flood of very cold air into the eastern half of the nation by the middle of the week.

The 06Z run of the GFS puts a surface low near Tupelo Monday, meaning rain and maybe even a few strong thunderstorms for us. Then, much, much colder air rolls in here Tuesday and stays put for the rest of next week. Maybe some flurries on the back side of the storm Tuesday, but I see nothing to get excited about at this time.

A couple of clipper systems do show up later next week, but those rarely make for a big snow storm here. The screaming message is COLD after February 8!

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE DETAILS.

Headed out to Oxford this morning to speak at the chapel service at Trinity Christian Academy... be back later today with the afternoon update!