I am having a blast filling in for Johnson and Johnson this week on WZZK during “morning drive”. Yesterday we somehow got on the subject of barbeque joints in Alabama, something near and dear to all of our hearts. I decided to do an impromptu “Best Bama BBQ” contest, and had listeners cast votes via phone calls and e-mail.

Long time readers here know my favorite is Jim’s Pit Barbeque in Billingsley, basically in the middle of nowhere down in Autauga county. But, the WZZK listeners voted the Top Hat as the best barbeque joint in Alabama. Hey, no problem here. The Top Hat has been a long time favorite, and every time I drive north on I-65 around lunch time, I get the urge to exit onto old U.S. 31 at the Blount Springs exit and make the five mile journey for some of Alabama’s best barbeque. They have opened a new location in Cullman in the old Shoneys building on U.S. 31, just north of downtown.

Coming in second place in yesterday morning’s voting was the Green Top barbeque between Sayre and Dora on the Walker-Jefferson county line. Once again, I am no stranger to that place… the ABC 33/40 Storm Chaser van has been known to sit in their parking lot a number of times, even when the weather is not bad!

Over 50 other places received votes, including the Tin Roof on Valleydale Road, Sho’ Nuff BBQ in Alex City, Ole Smoky in Leeds, Costas, Johnny Ray’s, Dreamland (both the original location in Tuscaloosa and in Birmingham), and Jim and Nicks. Rating barbeque joints is a very personal issue, and the bottom line is that we are blessed with a vast variety of BBQ joints statewide, both in the city and in the most rural parts of the state!

TOMORROW MORNING I am going to be asking for your best memories of growing up in Birmingham... should be very interesting! Join us on 104.7 FM, WZZK, tomorrow morning from 6 until 9 driving in to work.

By 9:30 tonight, most of the strong thunderstorms in Alabama had ended. Only a few storms remained. A few notes...

.....In NE Jefferson County, 1.88 inches of rain fell at Clay, near Deerfoot parkway.

.....For the second afternoon in a row, more than one inch of rain at Center Point. Severe lightning caused a power outage that lasted from about 4:50 to around 7:30 pm.

.....Huffman, in the NE edge of Birmingham only received 0.05 today but the total for July so far now stands at 12.03 inches.

.....Birmingham Airport received 0.70 this afternoon.

Powerful Hurricane Emily was nearly stalled tonight at a position 135 miles SE of Brownsville, Texas.

The hurricane eye can clearly be seen on doppler radar from Brownsville.

She is a dangerous Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125. The NHC expects Emily to resume a westward movement again and the favor landfall is on the northern Mexican Gulf Coast.

She may increase to a Category 4 before landfall later tonight.

Spiral bands are already pounding the Mexican Coast with high winds and heavy rain. A lot of rain also will occur over South Texas.

A few spot reports from Extreme South Texas...
Brownsville...light rain, wind NE gusts 24 mph
Port Isabel...cloudy, wind NE gusts 35
McAllen...cloudy, wind north gusts 24 mph.

The Severe Thunderstorm Warning in St. Clair County expired at 6:15. Strongest storms in that general area now along the Etowah County line...raining heavily in that area. Flash Flood Warning continues until 7:45

Flash Flood Warning for NE Jefferson County until 7...but no strong storms in that area now.

Very heavy rain over NE Tuscaloosa County moving very slowly. No formal Flash Flood Warning in effect.

Brian Peters reports that when he received 0.08 rainfall this afternoon, it meant that measurable rain has fallen on 14 of the first 19 days of July at his place in Helena...bringing the July total to 7.66 inches.

About one mile away, the ABC 3340 Weather Watcher for Helena, Nathan Jones, reports when his high temperature reached 92.3 at 3:10 this afternoon, the heat index at the time was 108!

She is now a Category 3 with sustained winds 125 mph and higher gusts. She continues moving WNW toward the north part of the Mexican Gulf Coast. Emily may reach category 4 before making landfall late tonight!

One 6 pm spot report...
Gulf of Mexico Buoy 200 miles east of Port Isabel: Wind SE, gust to 64 mph with 21-foot waves.

Widespread rain moving inland into Extreme South Texas. May be some flash flooding. A Tornado Watch also in effect for those ever present spinoff tornadoes.

NWS/Birmingham posted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for North-Central St. Clair County until 6:15 pm.

The severe thunderstorm was pretty much hugging I-59 in the west part of the county. It was moving NE at 15 and was located near Ashville. Moving generally toward Steele and Attalla.

A Flash Flood Warning has also been issued for St. Clair County, again mainly for the west part of the county.

Flash Flood Warning continues until 7 pm for NE Jefferson County although thunderstorms over that area diminished.

Flash Flood Warning continues for NE Jefferson County until 7 pm. Very slow moving thunderstorm dumping lots of rain and much cloud-to-ground lightning.

EMILY GROWING STRONGER QUICKLY (See this brief update from National Hurricane Center)

WTNT65 KNHC 192157
TCUAT5
HURRICANE EMILY TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
448 PM CDT TUE JUL 19 2005

DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT THE
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS IN EMILY HAVE CONTINUED TO RAPIDLY INCREASE
AND ARE AT LEAST 120 MPH. A SPECIAL ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY 530
PM CDT...2230Z...REFLECTING A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE INTENSITY
FORECAST.

FORECASTER KNABB/STEWART

Birmingham NWS Radar out for maintainence but based on radar from Hytop in NE Alabama, it is pouring in parts of the Birmingham area.

Very heavy rain indicated north and NE of Downtown Birmingham...moving north and NE up I-59 toward the Roebuck-Center Point Trussville area.

Loud thunder now in Trussville area although rain has not reached here yet.

Don't be surprised to see some street flooding erupt from this storm at anytime. It is another one of those dreaded slow-movers.

ALABAMA
Hottest temperature at 3 pm was 92 in Decatur and Tuscaloosa

SOUTHWEST HEAT
111 degrees at Bullhead City, Ariz.
108 in Phoenix
112 in Needles, Calif., and Las Vegas
108 in St. George, Utah
102 in Dugway, Utah
97 in Salt Lake


HURRICANE EMILY
Corpus Christi...rain, wind east gusts to 35 mph
Rockport Tex.,...heavy rain, wind east, gusts to 36
McAllen, Tex.,...steady rain, wind NE gusts to 25
Offshore buoy 200 miles east of Port Isabel, Tex.,...wind ESE, gusts 60 mph, 22-foot waves
Buoy No. 42020, 58 land miles SE Corpus Christi...wind NE, gusts 40, with 17-foot waves

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

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

Looking at model data extraction, 500 mb heights will hold in the 5920 to 5950 meter range for the rest of the week, with temperatures in the -5 to -6 (C) range. Bottom line is that pretty typical summer weather will continue for a while, with hot humid days and the risk of a brief afternoon storm in spots.

The GFS tries to get us on the eastern edge of the heat bubble late this week and early in the weekend (on the 12Z run), and it could be that storms will increase a bit due to the "ring of fire" effect on the periphery of the heat ridge, but I don't have enough confidence now to really show a marked difference in the weather on those days. Bottom line is that safest course is the ole "broad brush" approach and go with your standard summer forecast through the weekend.

The GFS MOS goes a little nuts and forecasts upper 90s here by Saturday, but I don't buy that due to the extensive soil moisture in place. We might hit the mid 90s on a day or two, but I think we will be mostly in the low 90s across the board.

TROPICS: Watch the video and check out that negative NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) spike around the first of August. HMMMMM. That might suggest we need to be watching the tropics closely about that time. More on the NAO tomorrow.

Emily goes into the Mexican coast late tonight about 50 to 100 miles south of Brownsville. Again, good job NHC with their forecast of this system. Hopefully our friends along the Rio Grande Valley can see some beneficial rain without wind damage tonight and tomorrow... they sure need it.

ON THE RADIO: Thanks for everyone who has been listening to WZZK this week while I fill in for "Johnson and Johnson"... I am on the air from 6:00 until 9:00 through Friday. Had a great "Bama's Best BBQ" contest this morning; I will write about it on a post that will be on here tonight.