Saturday Wind and Warmth
March 12, 2005, 3:57 pmNot being at the station this weekend, I don't have the WeatherNet data to report, but the National Weather Service did put together a summary of the wind comparing today's values against those of yesterday. I must admit that I thought the wind would be blustery but not quite as high as it has been. At my little home weather station, my highest wind today was 29 compared to 30 yesterday. And I know that my wind equipment is below the tree line so it is not a true measure of the air movement.
Here's the values:
LOCATION FRI (MPH) SAT (MPH)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (BHM) 40 36
DANNELLY FIELD (MGM) 39 28
TUSCALOOSA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT (TCL) 36 30
ANNISTON METROPOLITAN AIRPORT (ANB) 40 30
TROY MUNICIPAL AIRPORT (TOI) 39 29
SHELBY COUNTY AIRPORT (EET) 37 26
AUBURN-OPELIKA AIRPORT (AUO) 38 31
GADSDEN MUNICIPAL AIRPORT (GAD) 37 32
THOMAS C RUSSELL FIELD AIRPORT (ALX) 36 31
Now, the second part of today that has been amazing is the warmth. Once again the weather has a way of making you humble. I thought 70 or perhaps the lower 70s looked pretty good but NOT 77 degrees as observed at the Birmingham International Airport. Wow!
And the bright blue sky has been a wonderful sight to behold! Ain't the weather great?!
-Brian-
by Brian Peters
in General Thoughts
Saturday Video Update
March 12, 2005, 9:32 am
The Saturday video update is on the server:
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
I continue to have video capture troubles, but the audio capturing is working just fine. I grabbed a couple of images from jamesspann.com of the snow storm of 1993 just to help us reminisce. Be sure to catch Bill Murray's rememberances in the blog below.
I was working at the National Weather Service Forecast Office at the Oxmoor Road location when the blizzard occurred. I remember some brief snow showers that morning and the phone lit up with people asking if that was it. We kept telling people it was just a teaser. I was the Deputy Meteorologist-in-Charge at the time and I worked the 8 am to 4 pm shift on that Friday so went home at 4 pm. The big action began to take place several hours later and fortunately the midnight shift decided to come in early so the NWS office was well staffed for the event. Though nobody was really happy to work about 48 hours straight with only brief sleep periods on blankets and quilts in the library (using that term loosely). With the emergency generator, the equipment kept right on working along with the employees who did a marvelous job throughout unprecedented conditions.
The only complaints I remember from the staff were running out of food and smelly socks. About noon on Saturday, March 13, I called the office to see how things were going from my cozy home in Helena. A lead forecaster told me that things were okay but that they had eaten the last crumbs of food. Since I had a 4-wheel drive vehicle, I decided to venture out and found a small corner store in Helena that was open. I bought $40 worth of whatever they had, packed it in my Jeep, and headed for Oxmoor Road. It was typically a 20 to 25 minute drive, but this was not a typical situation. I knew about the jackknifed vehicles on the Interstate, so I planned a route to keep me off the Interstate. There were a number of dicey moments driving in, but I was taking it easy and not taking any chances. Two and a half hours later I arrived at the office to find a 4-foot snow drift covering each entrance to the parking lot. I finally decided to back up and take a running shot at one of the drifts. I couldn't get up much speed, so I didn't hit the drift very hard. The front of the Jeep went up and seemed to hang there for a moment and I remember thinking, "Oh great, I've come this far and now I'm going to get stuck in a snow drift." But the 4-wheel-drive had what was needed and I suddenly plunged through the drift onto relatively bare pavement on the other side. The staff was very happy to see me, er, the food!!
The other complaint occurred because a forecaster who had ventured out into the snow got his socks and feet wet. He put the socks on the radiators to dry out and created a big stink - literally. So glad the staff was civilized and didn't throw him off the roof!
Have a great weekend and luxuriate in the memories but enjoy the warm afternoon sun.
-Brian-
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
I continue to have video capture troubles, but the audio capturing is working just fine. I grabbed a couple of images from jamesspann.com of the snow storm of 1993 just to help us reminisce. Be sure to catch Bill Murray's rememberances in the blog below.
I was working at the National Weather Service Forecast Office at the Oxmoor Road location when the blizzard occurred. I remember some brief snow showers that morning and the phone lit up with people asking if that was it. We kept telling people it was just a teaser. I was the Deputy Meteorologist-in-Charge at the time and I worked the 8 am to 4 pm shift on that Friday so went home at 4 pm. The big action began to take place several hours later and fortunately the midnight shift decided to come in early so the NWS office was well staffed for the event. Though nobody was really happy to work about 48 hours straight with only brief sleep periods on blankets and quilts in the library (using that term loosely). With the emergency generator, the equipment kept right on working along with the employees who did a marvelous job throughout unprecedented conditions.
The only complaints I remember from the staff were running out of food and smelly socks. About noon on Saturday, March 13, I called the office to see how things were going from my cozy home in Helena. A lead forecaster told me that things were okay but that they had eaten the last crumbs of food. Since I had a 4-wheel drive vehicle, I decided to venture out and found a small corner store in Helena that was open. I bought $40 worth of whatever they had, packed it in my Jeep, and headed for Oxmoor Road. It was typically a 20 to 25 minute drive, but this was not a typical situation. I knew about the jackknifed vehicles on the Interstate, so I planned a route to keep me off the Interstate. There were a number of dicey moments driving in, but I was taking it easy and not taking any chances. Two and a half hours later I arrived at the office to find a 4-foot snow drift covering each entrance to the parking lot. I finally decided to back up and take a running shot at one of the drifts. I couldn't get up much speed, so I didn't hit the drift very hard. The front of the Jeep went up and seemed to hang there for a moment and I remember thinking, "Oh great, I've come this far and now I'm going to get stuck in a snow drift." But the 4-wheel-drive had what was needed and I suddenly plunged through the drift onto relatively bare pavement on the other side. The staff was very happy to see me, er, the food!!
The other complaint occurred because a forecaster who had ventured out into the snow got his socks and feet wet. He put the socks on the radiators to dry out and created a big stink - literally. So glad the staff was civilized and didn't throw him off the roof!
Have a great weekend and luxuriate in the memories but enjoy the warm afternoon sun.
-Brian-
Remembering the Bllzzard
March 11, 2005, 11:30 pm
In March 1993, I was employed as the part time weathercaster at the CBS affiliate here Birmingham. On Monday, March 8th of that year, it was in the 70s in Birmingham. Spring had sprung, and we were enjoying the nice weather. But Mother Nature had a surprise in store for us. I was talking to James that Tuesday night, and he pointed out that the numerical weather prediction models were showing a hurricane strength low in the Gulf of Mexico with cold air plunging into Alabama on Friday night. The prospect of foot deep snow in Alabama in March was hard to grasp.
With each model run, there it was, even getting more impressive as the week went along. I began telling people to prepare for a snowfall of historic proportion. I felt sort of like Noah warning of the flood. I was telling hotels to buy days worth of food in advance of the weekend and to call their staffs in because they would not be able to get to work.
Fred Barnhill was the Chief Meteorologist at Channel 42. As Friday rolled around, I went to the television station and reviewed the latest data. Everything was on track for a major snowfall. We talked to the News Department about plans. It was going to be my first ever chance to hang out at the station for days, eating bags of potato chips and sleeping on counters in the weather office. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that the news department was going to tape the 10 o’clock news at 6:30 and close down the operation for the weekend. I resigned myself to being at home. Things could be worse, A foot of snow to play in with my kids. Snow started falling about 4 p.m. By 6 p.m., there were a couple of inches on the ground. As the low passed to our south, strong winds began to blow. The power went out about 10:30 and was followed by a fantastic light and sound show as I experienced my first thundersnow. It was the start of a long and dangerous weekend.
With each model run, there it was, even getting more impressive as the week went along. I began telling people to prepare for a snowfall of historic proportion. I felt sort of like Noah warning of the flood. I was telling hotels to buy days worth of food in advance of the weekend and to call their staffs in because they would not be able to get to work.
Fred Barnhill was the Chief Meteorologist at Channel 42. As Friday rolled around, I went to the television station and reviewed the latest data. Everything was on track for a major snowfall. We talked to the News Department about plans. It was going to be my first ever chance to hang out at the station for days, eating bags of potato chips and sleeping on counters in the weather office. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that the news department was going to tape the 10 o’clock news at 6:30 and close down the operation for the weekend. I resigned myself to being at home. Things could be worse, A foot of snow to play in with my kids. Snow started falling about 4 p.m. By 6 p.m., there were a couple of inches on the ground. As the low passed to our south, strong winds began to blow. The power went out about 10:30 and was followed by a fantastic light and sound show as I experienced my first thundersnow. It was the start of a long and dangerous weekend.
by Bill Murray
in General Thoughts
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