The Tuesday afternoon map discussion is on the server:

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

Anyone remember this one?

"And I found out a long time ago
what a woman can do to your soul
Ah, but she can't take you anyway
You don't already know how to go
and I gotta peaceful, easy feeling...."

This weather sure does leave you with a peaceful, easy feeling.

Actually this has been one of those frustating days for me; I was scheduled to speak to the second graders at Saks Elementary School today, but I-20 east turned into a parking lot about the time I hit the Talladega exit due to a tractor-trailer wreck and explosion. I sat in traffic for about three hours and I could not make it to the school. It was all I could do to get back to Birmingham in time for the afternoon work session. There was nothing I could do. Pretty helpless feeling, actually. I am hoping to get them back on our schedule soon so we can take a look at those kids on the KIDCAM.

DRY DAYS: I still see no significant chance of rain through the Easter Weekend. Maybe a few clouds from time to time, but ridging aloft will mean warmer and dry weather in the days ahead. We will be in the low to mid 80s by the end of the week, and mid 80s look likely for the weekend.

A few showers might show up early next week as the GFS moves a system from Minnesota to North Alabama. But, with little moisture I am not sure we need to mention rain for now. We can adjust the forecast as needed... even if we do see showers on Monday or Tuesday amounts should be light.

LONG RANGE: Still no sign of any big severe weather threat on the GFS for the next 16 days. In fact, at the end of the period (April 27) the main band of westerly winds aloft shift up into southern Canada.... looking more like late June instead of late April. Looks warmer and drier and normal for the next two weeks around here.

TORNADO FATALITY: Sorry to report the woman seriously injured in the Hamilton tornado died this morning at a Tupelo hospital. That is the first fatality in Alabama from Friday night's severe weather outbreak which brought at least 16 tornadoes to the state.

I will have the next map discussion video on the server by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow...

* 94 was the high in Wink, Texas Monday--the USA high

* 20 in Berlin, New Hampshire was the lowest in the lower 48 states this morning.

* 10 below zero ws the lowest in Alaska at Barrow, Point Lay and Wainwright. Remember, it was not too long ago when we were seeing some 55 to 60 below zero temperatures up there.

* 16 is the number of tornadoes that occurred in Alabama Friday night and Saturday morning.

* 0 was the number of major tornadoes. All 16 were either F0 or F1.

* 0 is the number of severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings in the entire USA in the last 24 hours. We are getting somewhat of a break. This does not count serious flood warnings in parts of California.

* 4 is the number of inches of rain that is possible over Northern California in the next 24 hours. There are serious concerns about disastrous flooding, possibly including some levee breaks.

* 75 is the number of miles that I estimate that you could see in Alabama today if it were not for the curvature of the earth.

* 2,635 miles is the length of Canada's longest river. It is known as the Mackenzie River.

* 1,068 is how many miles of that river that is navigable...all the way from the Great Slave Lake north to the Arctic Ocean.

* 3 is how many cups of coffee I have had so far today--way, way behind the curve.

Just a quick reminder... we now have images and weather conditions from our new SkyCam sites online:

http://www.abc3340.com/static/skycams/skycamsmain.html

Four cameras are online now; seven more are coming in the next few weeks from Gulf Shores to Gadsden. All will be available online as well as on ABC 33/40!

Want to learn more about the technology?

Visit the Status Station site:

http://www.stratusstation.com

This week's WeatherBrains podcast is available via iTunes, RSS, or direct download:

http://www.weatherbrains.com/

In this edition:

- Alabama's April 8, 2006 severe weather event: Did the Storm Prediction
Center make a good call with its first-ever Day 2 High Risk outlook, or was it
a bust? We'll also discuss the way people reacted to the prediction, including
the decision by Alabama schools to close so early;

- April 8, 1998: We look back at central Alabama's "Oak Grove" tornado,
and discuss one of the challenging aspects of meteorology that apparently
caused the tornado to grow from an F0 to an F5, killing 30 people in west
Jefferson county.

The Tuesday morning map discussion video is on the server:

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

Another great day today. Ample sunshine; highs in the upper 70s. Someone over West Alabama will probably report 80 degrees. And, the weather still looks uneventful through the Easter weekend.

A vort max will sling shot from the plains of eastern Colorado to the Great Lakes today and tomorrow, but trailing showers look pretty slim, and we still think they stay north of Alabama tomorrow.

We should rise into the low to mid 80s by the end of the week, and the weather also looks warm on Saturday and Sunday.

A strong system could bring a severe weather threat to the central part of the nation over the weekend, but the system moves to the Great Lakes, and the trailing front for now seems to be fairly inactive. We might have to insert the chance of widely scattered afternoon storms at some point for Sunday, but for now the chance of any one spot getting wet looks so small we won't mention it.

LONG RANGE: Still nothing really gets our attention during the next 15 days when it comes to severe weather... which is a good thing. The GFS is suggesting some rain in the April 20-21 time frame, and that is about it. Amazingly quiet for mid-April.

BUSY DAY: Headed to Calhoun County this morning to speak with the kids at Saks Elementary School... I will have the afternoon map discussion posted here by 3:30. The new WeatherBrains podcast is availble this morning... I will post a note on that shortly before I leave!