More storm pictures from ABC 33/40 viewers:


From Smoke Rise in far western Blount County. Quite a view.


Rotating wall cloud in northern Fayette County.


Beautiful lightning picture from Arkadelphia.


Nice shot of a rotating updraft over far northern Tuscaloosa County.

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

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

Get set for a frosty night... most communities will drop into the 30 to 35 degree range by daybreak tomorrow with widespread frost. The colder spots will have a light freeze.

Tomorrow will be another sunny day with highs in the 60s.

NEXT RAIN: Some scattered light rain looks possible late Thursday or Thursday night, but moisture is very limited and rain amounts should be pretty spotty. No thunderstorms. Friday will be cool and dry.

WEEKEND PEEK: Another major storm system will form this weekend over the southwest U.S. More rain for Phoenix, more snow for Flagstaff. Some rain could ease into the northwest corner of the state Saturday, but rain will be much more likely on Sunday in advance of warm front advancing northward.

SPRING BREAK WEEK: Lets take a detailed look at the weather for those planning events next week:

MONDAY/MONDAY NIGHT (March 20): The 12Z GFS is painting a whole new picture concerning the evolution of the southwest U.S. storm. It now brings it out as a powerful negative tilt short wave, with the associated surface low running from Memphis to the southern tip of Illinois. This is greatly different than the 06Z run we showed on the video this morning which kept us in the cool sector. If the 12Z run is correct, we might indeed get into the warm sector and might be dealing with another severe weather threat Monday afternoon into Monday night. With the model flip-flops, this is a rather low confidence event right now. Stay tuned. It will be wet to start the week one way or another across the Deep South.

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY (March 21-22): These days look dry and cool at this point.

THURSDAY (March 23): The GFS hints at some rain creeping into southwest Alabama.

FRIDAY (March 24): Winter weather fans will love the 12Z GFS... it paints a deep surface low moving across the northern Gulf of Mexico, with heavy rain developing across the Gulf coast states, and a significant snow event for the northwest part of Alabama and into Tennessee. BUT REMEMBER... this is all voodoo at this point. No confidence in anything specific here, and this feature might go away in future runs. But, we will be watching for trends. Something like this is certainly possible in March... but I am not saying it will happen. Just too far away.

Sure enjoyed seeing everyone at First Baptist in Leeds today... I spoke with the pre-school kids and they will be on ABC 33/40 News at 5:00 today.

Be sure and scroll down for J.B.'s article on the Blizzard of 1993. I will also post most severe weather pictures from yesterday shortly...

What a great article from J.B. on the Blizzard of 1993 (the post below this one)...

If you want to see some pictures and read stories from our viewers, go here:

http://www.jamesspann.com/blizzard.html

I put that together three years ago at the tenth anniversary.

Thirteen years ago this morning, the temperature was sitting on 2 above zero at Birmingham Airport. It was the coldest temperature ever recorded during the month of March without any competition. That record stands out like a sore thumb.

It was, of course, the aftermath of the great Blizzard of '93. The huge storm had moved on into Canada and left Alabama clear and cold. With a deep snow cover, there was nothing to keep the temperture from plummeting.

It was one of those rare occasions (extremely, extremely rare) when the entire state of Alabama was snow covered, although amounts were less than 1/2 inch in some areas near the coast.

THE SNOW CHAMPION
Walnut Grove has the honor of receiving more snow than any other Alabama community in this huge storm. I believe their geographic location figured in. Walnut Grove is located on US-278--the main route between Gadsden and Cullman. It is near the Blount-Etowah County line in an area where the moisture laden east winds had to rise because of Straight Mountain and even more as the winds encountered Sand Mountain. This extra lift could have increased the snowfall.

THUNDERSNOW
Many Alabamians who had never seen lightning or heard thunder when it was snowing, had something to remember. Some of the heaviest snow fell during thunder and lightning. The lightning had an eerie bluish-green appearance, which made it even more weird.

SNOW TOTALS
Here is an extensive list of official snowfall totals from that giant storm. I don't think we have ever posted this before.

20 inches at Walnut Grove
17 inches in Valley Head
16 inches in Oneonta and Bessemer
13 inches at Anniston, Talladega, Pinson and Birmingham Airport
12 inches at Thomasville, Childersburg and Scottsboro
11 inches at Sylacauga
10 inches at Cullman, Clanton and Heflin
9 inches at Thorsby
8 inches at Ashland, Centreville, Moulton and Guntersville
7 inches at Alexander City, Huntsville and Whatley
6 inches at Camden, Evergreen, Jasper, Livingston, Andalusia, Haleyville and Highland Home
5 inches at Auburn, Winfield, Muscle Shoals and Chatham
4 inches at Montgomery, Union Springs, Vernon, Tuscaloosa, Demopolis, Frisco City, Greenville, Troy
3 inches at Brewton, Hamilton, Bay Minette and Mobile Airport
2 inches at Atmore and Robertsdale
Trace at Coden and Fairhope

HUGE SNOWDRIFTS
Remember, these are average snow depths at each location and it does not include the drifts. The snowdrifts were humongous in some areas, especially by Alabama standards. The drifts were 5 and 6 feet deep in parts of the Birmingham metropolitan area. Also, the Birmingham snow total (officially 13 inches at the airport) was exceeded in the higher elevations around town. For example, where I lived at the time in the Huffman area not far from Medical Center East (elevation about 800 feet), the total was 17 inches. After the storm, the National Weather Service received a report of some 15-foot drifts in the higher terrain of NE Alabama.

NOT A RECORD SNOW FOR EVERYONE
While this was a super event for much of the state, especially because of the wind-driven snow, it was nowhere near a record for many areas. The snow depth trailed off considerably in the NW part of the state. Hamilton, for example, received only 3 inches. They have received much heavier amounts in other storms. Muscle Shoals, Vernon and Tuscaloosa only had 4 inches. Auburn's 5 inches pales when you compare it with their biggie around Valentine's Day in the 1970s when they were buried in over 14 inches. The snow was also much lighter over South Alabama, especially from Montgomery southward.

ELSEWHERE IN THAT HISTORIC EVENT
Chattanooga got 20 inches of snow--breaking their all-time record...snow covered the north half of Georgia, but Atlanta only received 4 inches...an amazing 50 inches fell on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina and 18 inches at Asheville...in Virginia, 40 inches fell at High Knob...30 inches fell at Frostburg, Maryland; 44 inches at Snowshoe, West Virginia; 40 inches at Halcott Center, New York; 35 inches at Kancamagus, New Hampshire and over a foot in most of Maine...5-foot drifts were common across Massachusetts.

WINDS
Winds over 50 mph were associated with this giant storm causing widespread tree and structural damage from the NW Florida coast northeastward to New England. Highest winds clocked were 110 mph in Franklin County in the Big Bend of NW Florida and 101 mph at Flattop Mountain, North Carolina.

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
A lot of all-time low pressure readings were set:
28.44 inches at Wilmington, Delaware
28.51 inches at Richmond, which broke the previous record in Hurricane Hazel in 1954
28.94 inches at Augusta, Georgia
28.89 inches at Asheville, North Carolina
28.60 inches at Raleigh, also breaking the Hurricane Hazel record in 1954
28.63 inches at Columbia, South Carolina, breaking the record set during Hurricane Hugo in 1989
28.41 inches at Dover, Delaware and that was the lowest of the entire storm

FINAL THOUGHTS
Enormous examples of neighbors helping neighbors and strangers helping strangers during this historic event. Much of the state remained paralyzed for days. How can we EVER thank all of the utility people, rescue personnel, you name it. They responded in such a way that they should have received all kinds of rewards.

The Blizzard of 1993 is already folklore in Alabama. This great story will be told for generations to come. Why don't you print this story for your scrapbook for future generations?

The Tuesday morning map discussion video is on the server:

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

When it comes to thunderstorms, expect the unexpected. Another great example yesterday... on a day when I expected some severe thunderstorm warnings and maybe one or two tornado warnings, we wound up on TV wall to wall from about 3:45 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

Scroll down to see some amazing viewer pictures... a special thanks to everyone who took the time to send images to us. There are many more and I will try to post more later today as time allows.

LOOKING AHEAD: Forget the 80s for a while. In fact, temperatures here look below normal for the rest of the month of March. Highs today will be close to 60 degrees, but the sky will clear and sunshine returns statewide. By daybreak tomorrow, the mercury will drop into the 30 to 35 degree range over the northern half of the state, and a light freeze is likely for the colder spots. Most everyone will have a good blanket of frost on the ground.

NEXT RAIN: A little light rain will be possible here late Thursday and Thursday night. Not a big deal at all, and certainly no severe weather. A fresh shot of cooler air follows that system on Friday.

WEEKEND PREVIEW: Saturday should be cool and dry, but the weather turns wet on Sunday as a major storm forms to the west of Alabama. Looks like we never get in the warm sector of the storm. The GFS is suggesting a warm front will be over Central Alabama Sunday, and here we will be dealing with cool and wet weather. The GFS is advertising a high here of only 52 on Sunday with rain falling by afternoon. We might have to adjust our numbers down in the forecast package if this trend keeps up.

SPRING BREAK WEEK: The week will begin with widespread rain on Monday. And, once again, a cool rain if the GFS is correct. The surface low is forecast to move basically along U.S. 80, so no severe weather issues. Just lots of rain. And, it will be a cool rain. The rain should taper off by early Tuesday, but an upper trough swings through Wednesday with some clouds and maybe a few sprinkles or areas of light rain. The GFS even suggests some light snow with that feature north of Alabama.

Thursday and Friday of spring break week next week look cool and dry. Once again, temperatures all week should be below normal. Not great news if you are beach bound. But, most of the rain on the Gulf Coast will come at the beginning of the week on Monday and Tuesday.

MORE ARIZONA SNOW: Sure looks like another major late season winter storm for our friends in the Arizona mountains, and more rain for Phoenix. Second rain event for Phoenix within seven days after going 150 days without a drop.

TODAY: I will be speaking to the kids at Leeds Baptist pre-school this morning... I get more viewer pictures posted at some point this morning, and the next map discussion video will be up by 3:30 this afternoon!