Ball lightning is a rare and mysterious phenomenon. Eyewitnesses report that it is generally a glowing ball of light about the size of an orange or grapefruit. It can hover in the air, bounce or roll along the ground, or travel along a wire fence or utility wire. It has even been observed climbing a utility pole. It is usually quiet, although one ball lightning that passed into a lake was said to sputter and hiss like a hot iron when it hit the water. It can be almost any color, but red, orange and yellow are the most frequent colors. It is often accompanied by the smell of ozone or burning sulfur. Ball lightning usually occurs during a thunderstorm, and often after a cloud to ground lightning strike, but not always. There is a great deal of controvery over the cause of ball lightning. Some scientists theorize that the glowing sphere is made up of a hot gas of electrons, called plasma. Cloud to ground lightning strikes travel along a pathway of plasma formed by the step leader from the cloud and the streamer rising from the ground. Many researchers attribute it to silicon compounds in the soil that are oxidized in the air when lightning strikes the ground. The droplets become electrically charged and can glow. On this date in 1963, an Eastern Airlines flight between New York and Washington encountered an electrical storm. Passengers reported seeing a glowing sphere, bluish-white in color, about 8 inches in diameter that appeared in the cabin. The ball lightning passed slowly down the entire center aisle of the aircraft.

* 106 is how many inches of rain has fallen on Mt. Waialeale, Hawaii in only the last three weeks. They only got 1.67 inches in December. (Thanks to Chuck Biddinger for calling this to my attention.)

* 63 inches fell at Poamoho on the island of Oahu in only three weeks.

* 1 is the number of chitlins that James Spann ate while on camera at the Winston County Chitlin Eating Association in Arley last night (you should have seen the extreme contorted look on his face as he swallowed it)

* 300 is the estimated number of chitlins I ate as a kid in rural West Alabama. (See denial at end of this paragraph) Chitlins were often mixed in with cornmeal to make cornbread more tasty. PS: I was WRONG. Thanks to Chloe's note below. It was CRACKLINS, not chitlins. So I have never had a chitlin in my life. That note made my day. Cheers...and I will never have one knowingly.

* 8 below zero was the lowest temperature in the lower 48 this morning at Cook, Minnesota.

* 28 below zero was the coldest in Alaska at Northway.

* 90 was the hottest yesterday at Laredo and McAllen in South Texas.

* 30 is what percentage Little Miss Molly looks smaller after getting her summer trim yesterday. She looks like a long narrow swamp rat.

* 29 was the low at Dalhart in the Texas Panhandle this morning. That should help in the fighting of those brushfires.

* 2 (or more) inches is how much rain may fall in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area today through Sunday and maybe through Monday. It is sorely needed.

* I am going to try to persuade James Spann to eat some more chitlins while I photograph him close up. Might even pay him a dollar a chitlin just to see the weird look on his face.

The Saturday video map discussion is on the server at:

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

Overrunning precipitation has begun to the west of us with some light to moderate rain already in west central Alabama according to radar. Clouds exist across most of the state with the exception of the southern third of Alabama and the Northwest Florida Panhandle. Spring break folks at the beach should have a mostly sunny day today.

But as we get into tonight and Sunday precipitation will pickup and we expect a chilly, wet day for Sunday.

The Storm Prediction Center has outlooked much of the Southeastern US for a slight risk of severe weather on Monday and Monday night. As James noted over the last couple of days, the severe weather will depend on the quality of the air mass as it changes and we get into the warm sector. I feel certain there will be a severe weather risk Monday afternoon and evening primarily south of the Birmingham metro area. That risk could extend further north if we get good advection of warm, moist area with dewpoints into the mid 60s. The NAM output shows a CAPE approaching 500 and an LI close to -2, so these indices are not especially indicative of severe weather. The NAM was also not generating much precipitation either, so I'm a bit suspicious of the output.

Current model output suggests the threat of severe weather for Central Alabama should come in the Monday afternoon and evening time frame. Afternoon heating if we get some significant breaks in the clouds could help with destabilizing the atmosphere. So it will all depend on the quality of the warm sector air we can get into our area and just how far north it extends.

The rest of the week will be dry and cool. Colder air could invade the area Friday and Saturday as the ridge to our west strengthens and we come under increasingly stronger northwesterly flow. As the ridge dampens Sunday the colder air will shift eastward and we begin to come back to a west-to-southwest flow aloft and temperatures moderate.

The really long range forecast for April 3 shows an interesting pattern with a strong short wave approaching the area from the west. This could present a severe weather threat and we're probably all familiar with the events of April 3 and 4 back in 1974. I'm not saying we will see another record breaking severe weather outbreak - I'm saying that the current models suggest the potential for some severe weather - remember, 384 hours is really a looooong way out for anything more than trend watching.

Hope you have a good weekend. Tomorrow is my Sunday to usher at church during the early morning service, so I'll try to get the map discussion posted before I head out.

-Brian-