On the road… Getting back on the road again after a nice holiday break. Yesterday, it was down into Tuscaloosa county for a visit with the fourth graders at Walker Elementary school in the community of Samantha, which is about 25 miles north of Tuscaloosa up U.S. 43, in the northern part of the county. Nice to have Brian Peters of our staff along, who is always a great addition to my school programs. Brian has a real passion for weather, and he usually has the kids spellbound when he is speaking and showing some cool hurricane and tornado graphics. They really like it when he shares some of the stories from Hurricane Ivan.

After the program, it was back down U.S. 43 into downtown Northport for lunch at the City Café, one of my hangouts for 30 years now. I first started eating at the City Café when I was a teenager growing up in Tuscaloosa; the food was the best and the price made it affordable for even seriously broke high school or college students. Some of my favorite memories of the City Café would be the long “bull sessions’ with my friends; we would eat breakfast down there, and hang out all morning until it was time for lunch. The owner, Joe Barger, looks no different today than he did in the 1970s. Must have a Dick Clark thing going or something. Yesterday for me it was beef tips and rice, fried okra, green beans, and fried green tomatoes, along with apple pie topped with ice cream for dessert. I think the entire meal was under five dollars. Good as ever.

Today it is south, down I-65, to Clanton, for a ceremony in which Chilton county will be declared a “Storm Ready” community by the National Weather Service. Congratulations to my friend and EMA director Bill Collum for his excellent work over the years. The award is well deserved, and the result of long hours of hard work!

Afternoon video is ready for viewing:

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

What a great day. Brian Peters and I have been in west Alabama today, speaking to the 4th graders at Walker Elementary in Samantha, and then spending the lunch hour at the City Cafe in Northport. Doesn't get much better than this with temperatures in the low 70s on a January day. I will be the first to admit I dozed off in the back of the weather van while I was supposed to be looking at weather data!

We need to mention rain is falling in some spots over north and west Alabama, and a few showers will remain possible this evening.

Still looks like a line of storms blowing through here on Thursday with the potential for damaging winds. I expect SPC bring in a slight risk of severe storms for much of Alabama on Thursday.

And, the models continue to change their tune in the 4 to 9 day period. The deep freeze holds off until the middle of next week, with just a standard cool-down this weekend. See it all in the video update. We have adjusted the seven day discussion and planner accordingly....

The morning video is ready to view:

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

Mild through tomorrow with just a few isolated showers. Still looking at a squall line on Thursday which could produce strong winds statewide. And, a sharp change to colder weather for Friday and the weekend.

The big issue is that the models are backing down on the amplitude of the upper air flow. Another words, the river of air in the upper levels not as curvy, with the ridges not as high and troughs not as deep. This flatter flow means we will probably not get as cold as first projected over the weekend. Instead of 30s and teens, and we now talking mostly 40s and 20s.

It will be case of shallow cold air, and the model output statistics look too warm. But, with the lower amplitude we have gone ahead and raised the numbers for the weekend and early next week. Watch the video for details.

Off to Tuscaloosa County to see the kids at Walker Elementary... be back in the office early this afternoon...