It is really amazing the number of people who think we work a three minute day. That is the amount of time we get for a weathercast on a typical 30 minute newscast. Today is a fairly routine day for me…

The alarm rings at 4:52 a.m., and I make the long walk to the home office for a three hour radio/Internet shift. From 5:00 until 8:00, I handle the weather on 25 radio stations around the country, in places as far away as Phoenix, Arizona and Lynchburg, Virginia. Most of the radio cuts are MP3 files that I load to the jamesspann.com web server. I do some live visits with the various radio personalities as well every morning.

During that time I also do the morning video update for the ABC 33/40 web site (I usually get that done between 5:00 and 6:00), and write an article for this very web log (blog). I also manage to get our 7 year old to the school bus stop and spend a little time with my wife. Many mornings during active weather our entire forecast team will be on an instant message conference for forecast coordination and planning.

At 9:00 this morning, I will do a program on meteorology for the second graders at Deer Valley Elementary school in Hoover. Then, I drive quickly down I-459 to Rocky Ridge Elementary for another weather program at 10:00. These will be great fun since I also teach many of the same kids from both schools Sunday mornings during children's worship at Hunter Street Baptist Church. You can read more about my church here:
http://www.hunterstreet.org

Then, at 11:30, I will change hats and speak at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, where I am President of the Board of Trustees this year. It is my honor to serve in this capacity; the needs of Alabama children and families are great. You can learn more about our ministry here: http://www.abchome.org/

From the meeting I roll over to ABC 33/40 in Riverchase, where I feed more weather cuts to the 25 radio stations, do the afternoon web video, write another discussion for the blog, and prepare the graphics for our news at 5:00 and 6:00 using the afternoon forecast package written by J.B. Elliott. J.B.'s work is a real life-saver; by him working the afternoon forecast shift I am able to speak to school kids every day.

During the day I read over 100 e-mail messages... about one out of every four require a require a response. That is how I set up all of the school visits and other speeches. With a laptop, and wireless Internet access in many places now, I can answer e-mail at just about any place at any time.

I simply have no way to deal with the telephone; if I start downloading all of those messages it eats up too much time. I have Jason Simpson on the job handling all the phone calls.

At 6:30, it is home to spend the dinner hour with my family. That is one of the most important parts of my day. Of course, if the weather is severe I stay right here.

Then, back to the studio for the 10:00 news. At some point between 8:00 and 11:00 nightly, I write the morning forecast package and discussion. If you check the seven day discussion page, you will see that I post the morning discussion sometime around 10:00 nightly.

Most nights I get to bed sometime between midnight and 1:00. A long day, but it is a job I love. I am truly living the dream. A little fatigue? You bet. But, it is all worth it.

The Wednesday afternoon video update is on the server:

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

Not much to say about today's weather other than what J.B. wrote over on the seven day discussion. Temperatures have gone nowhere today, with low clouds, fog, drizzle, and some light rain. The weather won't change all that much through tomorrow as the upper trough swings through the deep south.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

*FRIDAY: We finally break out of the cold and damp pattern with some returning sunshine and afternoon temperatures back in the 60s.

*SATURDAY: Despite a cold front passing through on Saturday, the models sure look dry and we will mention only a few scattered showers. No wash-out, and some places could miss the rain completely.

*SUNDAY: Looks like the GFS tries to move Saturday's front northward as a warm front, with rain developing north of the front Sunday afternoon. This means the best chance of rain Sunday will be over the Tennessee Valley of extreme north Alabama, with the southern two-thirds of the state enjoying a partly sunny, mild, and breezy day. If the warm front indeed moves north of us, we will be well into the 70s.

*MONDAY/TUESDAY: The 12Z run of the GFS backs off on the intensity of the storm system early next week, but the European still looks like we might have a potent severe weather threat here. Could be Monday night or Tuesday before the main event happens. We will have to keep our eyes on this.

*REST OF SPRING BREAK WEEK: We might squeeze in one or two nice days during the middle of next week, but another system is due in here by Thursday or Friday with rain and storms. Temperatures should be fairly mild, with 60s and 70s across the deep south during the daytime hours.

*EASTER: Not much confidence in a specific forecast so far in advance, but the GFS wants to make Easter Sunday wet and stormy. This, of course, could change...

It has been snowing a lot across New Mexico and for over 24 hours in parts of West Texas and especially the Texas Panhandle. Look at these totals!

NEW MEXICO
24 inches at Sandia Park overlooking Albuquerque
10 inches in Albuquerque
24 inches in downtown Santa Fe
27 inches in Sedillo, Bernalillo County
14 inches in Taos
18 inches east of Cuba
8 inches out on the eastern Plains at Tucumcari

TEXAS PANHANDLE
13 inches southwest of Amarillo

Travel is probably a mess on Interstate 40 that runs east to west across the Texas Panhandle and all of New Mexico...including Tucumcari-Albuquerque-Gallup and on into Arizona through Flagstaff.

And also Interstate 25 the south to north route through New Mexico...including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Raton and on into Colorado through Colorado Springs and Denver. Snow was especially heavy at Las Vegas, N. M., on I-25 east of Santa Fe.

The Wednesday morning web update is on the server:

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

Today will feature low clouds, cool temperatures, and some light rain. I still say this is a great day to stay home and get some sleep. Sounds good, but it won't work for me!

Most of the rain early this morning has already shifted south of I-20, but the upper trough will swing through here with more rain at times tonight and tomorrow. Temperatures won't change much; most places will hover in the 46 to 52 degree range all the way through tomorrow.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

FRIDAY: The sun should break out Friday, with temperatures warming well into the 60s.

SATURDAY: A cold front swings through, but the models look dry. The GFS says no rain at all, the NAM says a narrow band of showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Botton line is that the day won't be a wash out at all, and rain won't last long.

SUNDAY: We should go into the low 70s. Some moisture begins to return, and we might have to insert a chance of showers later today. But again, no wash out.

MONDAY/TUESDAY: We still have concern about the possibility of a potent severe weather setup for Alabama early next week as we begin spring break week. Somewhere in this time frame we might be dealing with a severe thunderstorm/tornado threat, so keep that in mind. We will fine tune this at the end of this week.

REST OF SPRING BREAK: Looks like we will squeeze in two nice days on Wednesday and Thursday before wet weather returns on Good Friday.

The models are also hinting at another wetdown for Easter Sunday. But, that is a long way off and timing could change, needless to say.

As we have mentioned here before, the end of March looks progressive with a number of active storm systems. Strap in the for ride!