On the evening of March 25, 1964, millions of Americans sat down in front of the televisions to watch The Beverly Hillbillies. Granny was in a battle with the U.S. Government over weather forecasts. Granny claimed to be more accurate than the Weather Bureau despite their communications, simultaneous global observations, satellite images, balloon releases and computer models.

Jed goes to see Addison to calm the feud. He tells the weather forecaster the problem is with Daisy. “You mean Hurricane Daisy?” “That’s the one.” Addison says, “Daisy is beginning to give us trouble. The U.S. Weather Bureau has started tracking her. And there is no estimate as to the damage she might do if she moves north.” Jed replies, “Oh, she ain’t gonna move north, I can assure you.” Addison goes on to say, “We cannot ignore a force as dangerous as Hurricane Daisy. But we are going to try something new with Daisy. We are going to fly over her with high altitude jet bombers, the buggest in the Air Force. We are going to drop silver iodide and dry ice right into the eye of Daisy.” Jed stands and says “Government or no government, I can’t let you do that.” Addison is taken back. “Are you some kind of hurricane lover,” he asks. “Daisy is a violent, destructive force that is unpredictable,” reasons the forecaster. “I grant you all that,” says Jed, “but she’s still my mother in law.

The weatherman comes to the Clampett to show a movie about modern weather forecasting, 1964 style. The documentary shows how weather reports are gathered and communicated instantly. They provide the basis for modern weather forecasting. Radiosonde balloons are launched simultaneously around the world to give a picture of the upper atmosphere. To this Granny laughs out loud. “Ha! They’re playing with balloons instead of looking for signs.” Pressure, temperature and wind are plotted on map segments and combined to produce a huge map of simultaneous observations. But now there is a revolution. Electronic computers can analyze the data and predict tomorrow’s weather map. The movie explained how the 19 inch high, 42 inch in diameter TIROS that weighs 280 pound was being used. Granny retorts, “That TIROS may be big, but he ain’t half the beetle Cecil is.” After the movie, Addison explains how far the science has come from the realm of superstition and coincidence. “It enables me to say with complete confidence that it will not rain tonight.” Mr. Drysdale asks Granny what she thinks. “You better get your convertible under cover ‘cause it’s gonna rain in one minute,” she predicts. Addison pleads with her, “Hasn’t this evidence convinced you that my prediction is the current one?” even as it begins to pour rain. Later, Granny teaches a lesson in weather signs to Addison, even giving him her beetle, which he uses the next day to make the weather forecast.

The Sunday map discussion video is on the server at:

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

Wow, what a day it was yesterday. ABC 33/40 was one of the sponsors of the Buck Creek Festival held in Old Town Helena, so I was there all day emceeing some of the events and chatting with folks. But I kept my eye on radar to keep the decision makers informed about impending weather. The Storm Chaser became a real mobile command post for weather information for the event. While the morning rain dampened attendance a bit, the event benefitted from that rain with temperatures that only climbed into the middle 70s. So the cool air combined with great local talent provided festival goers with a wonderful afternoon and evening. It's really a pleasure to get to assist with this event and meet great people like Dollar Bill from "The Bull" and members of the various bands that performed. Thanks, too, to all the people who stopped by the Chaser to peek at the van.

Our weather will be improving today and I expect to see some sunshine before the afternoon is over. Drier air was filtering into North Alabama as evidenced by dew points in the mid 40s. The overall upper air pattern with a strong closed low over the eastern half of the country will not change much through Monday so we can expect to see patched of clouds and perhaps some sprinkles.

The pattern begins to undergo a change Tuesday as that closed low ejects northeastward and fills or weakens. The trough remains anchored across the Southeast US so we'll continue to see periods of clouds along with some patchy rain, but rainfall amounts are not expected to be significant.

By the end of the week, the pattern flattens out a bit which should allow temperatures by Friday to return to seasonal values with highs around 80 degrees. But the trough over the eastern half of the US will continue so we'll see a slight warm-up but nothing extraordinary.

In fact, the pattern of a trough over the eastern half of the country with the resultant northwesterly flow pattern is forecast to persist through much of the latter half of May. This should keep up relatively mild with normal to below normal temperatures which will help to keep the air conditioning bill down.

We're getting some great video off the new SkyCam network which will continue to expand over the next several weeks. I'm hoping to get an opportunity to go on another install and bring you the story in pictures as our network expands. This is so great to be able to bring you live pictures of the weather in a location near you.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Be sure to tell Mom how much you love her! Have a great Sunday and a great upcoming week. God bless.

-Brian-

Draw our front this morning as a wavy stationary front somewhere over North Alabama, likely between Birmingham and Cullman. Our pre-frontal band of convection did fill in nicely during the pre-dawn hours and is beginning to fire up this morning much as the evening runs of the models predicted.

They were unanimous in thier belief that showers and storms would be intensifying this morning just south of Birmingham across Central Alabama, and they were right.

Storms are firing over Pickens County, back into Noxubee County Mississippi. This trend should continue for the next few hours, bringing some healthy rainfall amonts to parts of Central Alabama.

There could even be some hail involved and I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of warnings. The Storm Prediction Center outlooks only extreme Southeast Alabama for severe weather today.

North of this band, skies should remain cloudy through the morning hours, with some clearing possible later in the day. Temperatures will likely make it into the 70s since the inflow of cooler air has not begun and the sun might eventually come out for a time. Will update the forecast accordingly.

Brian will be along shortly with the morning map discussion.

The severe weather threat is diminishing across North and Central Alabama. The severe thunderstorm watch expired at midnight and was not extended. More showers and storms will continue overnight ahead of the front, and a isolated severe report or warning is certainly not out of the question.

At 12:15 a..m., rain and a little embedded thunder coninued over NE Marion, Winston, and southern Franklin and southern Lawrence Counties. The activity is moving SE and ESE pretty rapidly, at nearly 50 mph. It seems to be decreasing slowly in coverage and intensity.

Just hit send on the morning forecast package...and posted the internet information...

Back to the radar...

NE Sector (N of I-20 and E of I-65)...Strong storms continue tonight over Jackson and Cherokee County. Some pretty good hail is north of Centre. The other stronger storm is northeast of Scottsboro. The storm west of Hytop is probably stronger than it looks on the Hytop radar since it is so close to the radar. A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 11:30 for Jackson County.

There is a lone storm just west of I-65 just north of the Tennessee River north of Decatur. It will move ESE through Mooresville, just brushing Decatur.

Showers and storms will continue moving south through the night ahead of a cold front.

The severe weather threat continues from the Northwest corner of Alabama down to just east of Birmingham then on to near LaGrange, Georgia. The severe thundertorm watch remains in effect for these areas until midnight.

NW Sector (N of I-20/59, W of I-65)...a strong storm is over Prentiss County Mississippi. It will move into Franklin and Winston Counties within the hour, perhaps clipping NE Marion County. It could be guilty of some hail.

A long area of newly developing showers is oriented from NW to SE from southern Tennessee through the Tri Cities area of Northwest Alabama across Winston, Walker, Jefferson, Shelby and into Coosa County. I think this is the old outflow boundary from earlier beginning to get active under the large scale ascent of the approaching upper level wind max.

I think these showers will hold together and increase some in intensity and coverage overnight. The front should sweep them south later. But I wouldn't expect any severe weather.

SW Sector (S of I-20/59, W of I-65)...Showers and storms should move into this area during the pre-dawn hours. Coverage will be spotty to scattered, but may increase toward sunrise in areas from Tuscaloosa on south.

SE Sector (S of I-20, E of I-65)...Showers and storms should move into this area during the pre-dawn hours. Coverage will be spotty to scattered, but may increase toward sunrise in areas from Clanton on south.

We will be watching the storms through the night until they calm all the way down...