In our prime time weather special a few weeks ago, we featured a story on the Alabama-Auburn game on December 3, 1983. Auburn won the game 23-20, with some of the stars including Bo Jackson, Lionel James, and Mike Shula. Bo ran for 256 yards in the game, one of the best college efforts of his career. During the game I was staffing the Channel 13 weather center, rather tired following a long night of severe flooding. Conditions were favoring more severe weather during the afternoon.

Sure enough, severe thunderstorms formed rapidly over west Alabama by mid-afternoon, and it looked like our worst nightmare was happening in front of our very eyes. The old Enterprise radar receiver, showing data from the WSR-57 system down at Centreville, showed a classic “hook echo” signature on a storm headed right toward Birmingham, where the Iron Bowl was being played at a packed Legion Field. A tornado warning was issued for Jefferson county during the second half of the game, and Simpson Pepper read the tornado warning over the public address system near the end of the third quarter. Oddly enough, the game was never stopped as a tremendous downpour moved over the stadium with strong winds and lots of lightning.

There is no doubt this was the biggest storm ever to hit during an Iron Bowl game. A tornado did not touch down at the stadium, but if it would have happened it would have been one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history. Later, the same storm did drop an F3 tornado at Oxford, killing two people in a supermarket and injuring over 50 other people.

During our special it was fascinating to hear Keith Jackson of ABC Sports describe the storm, and our own J.B. Elliott, who was working for the National Weather Service at the time, tell how the warning process worked that day.

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We have received incredible response from the new "blog" format. This will be great fun.

Just finished the afternoon video update:

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

Very difficult forecast for the next six days. Watch the video for the full story. Here is the best scenario I can figure now:

*Some light rain tonight and tomorrow night with the short wave north of us fizzling out. I don't we will have much rain at all tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night, which is great news for the folks planning on going to a high school playoff game.

*I don't see any well defined trigger for rain on Saturday, so I get the idea much of Saturday will be dry. Of course, we have a southwest flow aloft, which always means the chance of some rogue impulse coming through, but I don't see it now. So, again, good news for fans headed for the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. Yes, a shower possible, but odds are rain just won't be an issue.

*A surface front drifts in here on Sunday, which will mean an increased chance of rain or storms. We might even have to watch for some strong storms during the afternoon.

*The surface front could move north of us on Monday, which would mean a mild and breezy day with few showers.

*Tuesday of next week could be a severe weather day. Sharp upper trough to the northwest, strong wind fields, and a reasonable chance we get into the warm sector.

*Thanksgiving Day looks dry and cool; 50s during the day and 30s early in the morning.

BUT... this is like we mentioned a complex forecast and is very much subject to change. Keep an eye on the video updates and the seven day discussion!

I was standing outside about 5:45 this morning with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand awaiting a sunrise. I sensed it was not going to be ordinary and I was right.

Unfortunately the rich colors did not last long. It was at a peak between about 6:02 and 6:10.

I have been around a few weeks and, mind you, I have seen what seems like a zillion sunrises and sunsets. In places like the Arizona Desert, across the big Vallliceto Reservoir in SW Colorado, Great Salt Lake, the Salmon River in Idaho, across the open plains of North Dakota, Oklahoma and West Texas, the Skyline Drive in Western Virginia, Lakes Eufaula and Guntersville, Gulf Shores, you name it.

The sunrise this morning had to be in the top 10. There were clouds at about four levels and that always enhances. I had time to soak it in because Little Miss Molly was still asleep and not pushing me to move on.

I know I go overboard about sunrise and sunset. But I don't apologize. As I am prone to say, they are more relaxing than eating a Valium sandwich!

This is one of our most important forecasts of the year, with the "Iron Bowl" this weekend, and Thanksgiving just one week away. Of all weeks, this is not the one for a busted forecast. Since the situation is rather complex, I thought I would go ahead and take this space and go into a more detailed look at coming events:

IRON BOWL: For now, we expect a mostly cloudy and mild day on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and we will have to mention a fairly decent chance of showers, and maybe even a thunderstorm. On the positive side, we don’t expect any severe weather or really heavy rain with the main dynamics weakening and passing to the north of Alabama. But, a shower will be possible at just about any time during the game. The 2:30 p.m. kickoff temperature will be near 70 degrees, falling into the mid 60s by the fourth quarter. It will not feel like November.

THANKSGIVING WEEK: We are looking at model output closely, which is trending back toward a solution that might bring a risk of severe thunderstorms to part of the deep south at some point Tuesday or Wednesday. We will have to continue a chance of showers daily on Sunday and Monday, and then a rather vigorous storm system will approach by Tuesday. It remains to be seen if Alabama can really get into the warm sector of the storm with very unstable air, but it is not out of the question. Based on the latest data, the greatest risk of severe storms in Alabama (if there is a threat) would be from Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning. This is our fall tornado season, so we will have to be on our toes. Thanksgiving Day at this point looks cool and dry, with daytime temperatures in the 50s, and early morning lows in the 30s.