We get lots of questions daily here at the ole weather office, so I thought on a nice day I would share a few answers:

*Will we have more freezing temperatures this season? I am 95.7 percent sure the answer is no. We have never had a freeze here later than April 23, and the pattern does not favor any really cold air moving in here for the rest of the month. Time to get out and do some planting. You are about as safe as you can be.

*Is your new morning meteorologist, Jason Simpson, related to you?
No. Jason is from Holly Pond in Cullman county; my roots involve Butler county down in south Alabama, and Tuscaloosa county. Maybe he watched too much of me growing up! Jason is very good at what he does, and he has a long, right future in television meteorology! I am planning on working with Jason, John Oldshue, and Brian Peters for a long time. I love the team we have in place now. Jason was a very, very good addition.

*I can’t remember the weather being this strange. Do you think our weather pattern is getting more severe with time?
No. I have been forecasting the weather on TV here in Alabama since 1978 (with the exception of a few years away in Dallas in the mid 1980s), and the simple truth is that our weather is “strange” every year. Tornadoes, severe storms, ice storms, hurricanes, floods, heat waves, droughts, gravity waves, and a plethora of other events happen here from time to time. Just a part of living in the south.

*What are your thoughts on the summer season ahead?
I must admit I am a little concerned about the primary jet shifting north so early in the season. We have not had a really hot summer in a number of years, so maybe we are overdue. But the real answer is I don’t know at this point; I will have some thoughts by the time we get to early May.

*Why do you wear suspenders?
I really gained weight for the first time in my grown life about 10 years ago. I bought suits and had them sized up based on the new weight, but I slimmed down in the months ahead, and all of the pants were suddenly too big. I started wearing suspenders so those "large" pants would stay up! The weight has become stable, and I just kept the "look".

*I moved here from Texas. You look familiar, did you ever do the weather on TV out there?
Yes. I was transferred from the NBC affiliate here in Birmingham to their sister station at the time, KDFW in Dallas, in the summer of 1984. I was the lead meteorologist at Channel 4 through the mid 1980s, but I am amazed people would recognize me now. I actually had some hair back then. My competition back then was Harold Taft at KXAS Channel 5, and Troy Dungan at WFAA Channel 8. Harold died of cancer about 10 years ago, and I understand Troy is going to retire next year.

The Thursday afternoon web video update is on the server:

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

No severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash floods, gravity waves, or hail around here for the next five days. The storm track shifts up north; we will enjoy a string of sunny days through early next week with daytime highs in the 70s, and cool nights, with early morning lows in the 40s. It doesn't get much better than this.

We did have a few spots of drizzle this morning lingering under the low cloud deck, but the sky is clearing nicely as I write this and we will have sunshine back in full force tomorrow.

NEXT WEEK: The 12Z run of the GFS is giving us a different solution for the latter half of next week; a system over the midwest drags a cold front down our way, but it might be the end of next week before any decent rain areas reach us. And, even then, the main dynamics will pass well to the north. The idea of a drier latter half of April still looks good.

Is the tornado season over? No. I would not be shocked if we had an active May around here... it would be very unusual for the primary jet stream to shift up north toward the Canadian border in mid-April and stay there all the way through May.

The Thursday morning web video is on the server:

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

We are still looking at a nice extended stretch of dry weather for Alabama. Clouds this morning should give way to a partly sunny afternoon as the upper low to the east keeps drifting away, and we have some really nice spring weather ahead for tomorrow and the weekend. Lots of sunshine, low humidity, and afternoon temperatures in the 70s.

NEXT WEEK: Monday and Tuesday will be dry, but the latest GFS suggests a few showers might break out on Wednesday afternoon. Still looks like the next widespread rain comes a week from today on April 21 with a cold front trailing a midwest storm system. Looks like the best dynamics will stay up north, so a big severe weather threat doesn't look especially likely at this time.

Down the road, another system should affect the state sometime in the April 26-29 time frame. But again, the best energy seems to be north of us, at least the way it looks now.

Enjoy the break from the rain!