Wow... thanks to everyone who came out for Storm Alert 2006 last night in Hamilton. We ran out of seats 90 minutes before show time; we figure somewhere between 800 and 1,000 people were inside during the show. This is why we always say COME EARLY to get a seat!

This is a story about huge temperature drops across the vast Great Plains of the USA. It is the Legend of the Blue Norther. You never see or hear that term in official forecasts because it has never been used. Instead it is more folklore. But I guarantee that you could talk to a rancher in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle, and for that matter, almost anywhere in Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, he would know right away what a Blue Norther is. It is a huge and sudden plunge in temperature. In the early days, with no weather warnings, untold numbers of people perished and literally thousands of livestock froze to death. Children walking home from early day schools were frozen.

And, why was it called a Blue Norther? No one can be sure. Some oldtimers say it is a vicious cold front that sweeps across the Panhandle under a blue-black sky. Others say it is named for the bright blue sky after the front has passed. Still another version is that it is because the sudden severe change will make a person turn blue from the cold. I tend to believe the latter.

One example of the Blue Norther was the giant cold wave of November 11, 1911. In Kansas City, the temperature had reached 76 by late morning. At midnight, it was 11—a drop of 65 degrees in 14 hours! Springfield dropped from 80 to 13, a plunge of 67 degrees in 10 hours. Oklahoma City had the distinction of having a record high of 83, only to establish arecord low on the same day as it dropped to 17 by midnight.

Here in Alabama, we have had some historic drops in temperature also but they have never been called a Blue Norther. On Thanksgiving Day, 1950, football fans were watching the annual Crippled Children’s Championship Football Game at Legion Field in shirt sleeves since it was 70 degrees. The Weather Bureau had already issued Cold Wave Warnings for the area. Most people did not believe such a change could occur.

Next morning, the temperature was in the mid 20s and the ground was white with snow, blown about by strong NW winds. That night the temperature dropped on down to 5 above—a drop of 65 degrees in 38 hours. Tuscaloosa had a 69-degree plunge from 79 to 10. It was 2 below zero in Valley Head, the first time in history to have below zero temperatures in November in Alabama. Fourteen people died, including 13 in house fires. One person froze to death in Jackson County.

-J.B. Elliott

Virtually no showers left in Alabama late tonighjt but clouds blanket the entire state.
There is some scatered light drizzle, too light to pick up on radar.

There is also some patchy fog and that should become more widespread overnight/

Most of the showers are gone from Alabama.

However, drizzle is occurring in a number of areas and this is generally too light to detect on radar.

Low clouds and fog will be increasing tonight. Ceilings have dropped to under 1,000 feet in various places and this will often put the ridges in the clouds.

In other words, you may encounter near zero visibility as you drive over the higher ridges tonight.

Red Mountain, Shades Mountain, Oak Mountain and Double Oak Mountain are examples in the Greater Birmingham area.

WEATHER BY THE NUMBERS

* 75 was one of the warmest temperatures in Alabama today and that was at Mobile's Brookley Field

* 1.25 inches was among the heavier rainfall amounts and that was also at Brookley. We will have a more complete list of rainfall later.

* 2.27 inches was one of the heavier rainfall totals in NW Florida, at Destin

* 2.11 inches was the total at Pensacola

* 1.78 is the amount for Panama City

The link below will open a story of a wintry scene from Hawaii.

Yes, they do get snow occasionally on the highest elevations!

Here is the link:

http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/31/news/story02.html

Thanks to Chuck Biddinger for sending us this...

A line of showers was moving eastward across North and part of Central Alabama late this afternoon.

The line of showers extended from Chilton County in the center of the state northward along the Shelby-Talladega County line and along the St. Clair-Calhoun County line into Dekalb and Jackson County in Extreme Northeast Alabama.

Most of the showers were light to moderate but there were some heavier showers in Chilton County.

Showers continue late this afternoon mainly over North Central and Northeast Alabama.

At 4:15 pm, most of the showers extended from near Birmingham and Cullman north and northeast to Huntsville, Gadsden and Scottsboro.

Movement is toward the northeast.

They are not heavy, in fact most of the showers are light.

Earlier this afternoon, the NWS in Mobile issued a Tornado Warning for Monroe and North Conecuh in South Alabama. The warning was based on a public sightning of a tornado near Pine Orchard.

Just completed the Storm Ready ceremony at the Marion County EMA office... we are headed over to the site (Bevill State) for Storm Alert 2006. I will try to find a quiet spot with Internet access for some thoughts on coming weather attractions...

Stay tuned...

More showers continued to spread eastward into Northwest Alabama this afternoon. Most of the showers were along and west of the Tuscaloosa-Jasper-Cullman areas although a few were further east.

Most of the showers were light but some moderate showers were over parts of fayette and Walker County--especially Walker County.

To the southeast of Alabama, the National Weather Service, Tallahassee, issued a couple of Tornado Warnings this afternoon including pne for the Port St. Joe area.

Estimated 80% of Alabama free of showers at 11:40 am.

Showers moving out of Extreme Southeast Alabama into Southwest Georgia.

Main showers remaining were in Extreme Northwest Alabama mainly across Lauderdale, Colbert and North Lawrence County.

Moving NE toward the Tennessee Border.

No Severe Thunderstorm Warnings anywhere in the USA since 9:17 this morning. That one was for the Columbus-Starkville area of East Mississippi.

The Storm Prediction Center has removed Extreme South Alabama from the "slight risk" of severe weather today. Slight risk continues for Extreme South Georgia and part of Extreme North Florida.

A tornado struck the main New Orleans Airport early this morning. Scan down for information about that.