Catching Up...

After a wonderful break during the holidays, time to ease back in the ole weather operations chair and see whats going on around here. Here are some quick observations on this incredibly nice Sunday afternoon:

*At this hour the Birmingham Airport is reporting 73 degrees. That is a new record high for the date, the old record for January 2 was 72 set a few years ago, in 2000.

*That 73 degree reading today is 56 degrees warmer that our low of 17, recorded on December 20.

*Montgomery has soared to 77 today. However, there is no doubt in my mind the thermometer down there is a few degrees too warm, and has been for almost one year. Someone with the FAA or NWS needs to check into this...

*Birmingham's warmest January temperature on record is 81, reached on January 10, 1949. Don't think the global warming crowd was active back then.

*We getting pretty dry around here. This is the 10th day in a row with no precipitation.

*While Birmingham is enjoying 73 degrees, at the exact same time Williston, North Dakota reports six degrees below zero.

*Quite a sharp thermal contrast across the middle of the nation today. In Oklahoma at 2:00 CST, Tulsa is enjoying a warm 67, while not too far away in Wichita, Kansas, the mercury is a sub freezing 31 with fog.

*Will any of the cold air over the plains reach us? It is possible, but it will be very shallow and won't last long if it does. We might have a day within the next week or two when Huntsville stays in the 30s all day and Birmingham holds in the 50s or 60s. That shallow cold air can also a great set-up for freezing rain. But, a very pronounced southwest flow aloft is not going away anytime soon, and the ridge over Florida seems to be holding very tough during the next 15 days. So, any cool down will be temporary in this pattern. But, winter weather fans, still plenty of time for a major pattern change down the road, and I full expect one before the end of January.

*My e-mail box is full from people demanding to know when it is going to get cold and STAY cold here. My response is simple: you need to move to Minneapolis! This is a low latitude part of the U.S. with only short term intrusions of very cold air. The lowest normal high and normal low here is 52 and 32! We do not have one single day of the year with a normal temperature below freezing.

Enough for now; going to prepare the Monday morning radio feed for over two dozen stations. Also, we welcome a new station to the network tomorrow: WQCK, the Bridge, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If you are down that way check it out on 92.7 FM!