April 3, 1974 is the seminal day in my weather history. 147 tornadoes in twenty four hours across the United States will probably stand for a long time as the most prolific twenty four hour tornado outbreak in our nation. It was a terrible day. It was warm, way too warm for early April in Alabama. Afternoon temperatures peaked near 90 degrees. Tornado watches were in effect by 10 a.m. Storms started to fire around noon. A strong thunderstorm crossed the Birmingham metro area around 4 p.m., causing a brief tornado near Concord in the western part of the county. More tornadoes occurred during the late afternoon in the northeastern part of the state. But the main action was just beginning over the Northwest part of the state.

At 6:30 p.m. CDT, a tornado touched down in Franklin County near Newburg. This tornado was described in warnings as “big and powerful and taking everything in its path.” I was listening to Wayne Wallace and Ben Cleary on WDJC as they read this warning, and I can still feel the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. This tornado caused severe damage across Lawrence County, Limestone County and Madison County before moving into Tennessee. The twister was on the ground for 85 miles. It killed 28 in Alabama. At 7:25, a second tornado touched down near the first tornado’s path and paralleled its track, separated by less than two miles along the fifty miles it was on the ground in Alabama. Many communities were struck by two tornadoes less than thirty minutes apart. At the same time, trouble was brewing further to the south. At 7:00, a tornado touched down near Aliceville in Pickens County. It remained on the ground for 120 miles, plowing into the downtown area of Jasper at 7:58 p.m. reaching Cullman at 8:40 p.m.

About that same time, at 8:50 p.m. CDT, the most powerful tornado of the night in Alabama touched down in Lamar County. It roared into the Marion County town of Guin at 9:04 p.m. CDT. Twenty three people died in the town. The tornado roared on to the northeast. Dramatic radar reports indicated that the parent storm was moving at 120 mph! The tornado lifted, but a second tornado formed from the same parent storm and roared into south Huntsville. The tragic toll in the state on that stormy night: eight tornadoes, 86 people killed, nearly one thousand injured.

Thought we would touch base with you about some interesting items, weatherwise, on this Saturday...including some in NE Alabama.

ALEXANDRIA
We received a report from Keith and Nancy Mitchell telling about a three-minute period of pea size hail with strong north winds at 6:50 am. Alexandria is in Calhoun County just east of U.S. 431 north of Anniston. Also a report from Gadsden about the same time that they were surprised to have winds estimated at 40-50 mph with only a patch of light rain.

RAINBOW CITY
Margie Richardson said the rain was hitting the windows and side of their house so hard that it woke them up, All of this was due to an intense low pressure centered at mid-day over Virginia. The tight pressure gradient around the low is causing our strong west and NW winds today. Some official peak wind gusts so far today:
39 MPH at Birmingham Airport
36 MPH at Huntsville Airport
41 MPH at Decatur
38 MPH at Anniston and Gadsden

RABUN COUNTY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA
A mix of light sleet, snow showers and rain showers this morning. Visibility as low as 1/2 mile at times in snow showers and chance of some slick spots on roads. Winds tonight will gust as high as 60 MPH as an upper level low pressure area grows stronger over the NE.

MOUNTAIN CITY TENNESSEE AND JOHNSON COUNTY
A Heavy Snow Warning through tonight
A High Wind warning overnight
The NWS expects as much as 3 to 12 inches of snow to accumulate this afternoon and tonight mainly above 2500 feet elevation with winds gusting as high as 55 MPH tonight. If this happens it will look just like a blizzard. Bill McMillan, who operates the private Mountain City Weather Center in Mountain City expects 8-10 inches atop Stone Mountain in the area. He also thinks that winds could gust to near hurricane force tonight on some of the higher ridges. Johnson County is in extreme NE Tennessee.

GATLINBURG and the GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
Very windy with up to 8 inches of snow today mainly above 2500-feet elevation. Already 1/2 foot of snow on the ground on Newfound Gap. Most of you know where that spot is as the road from Gatlinburg to Cherokee, N. C., crosses the Tennessee-North Carloina line. Counting the additional snow tonight, accumulations as much as 3 to 12 inches expected. Winds will gust as high as 50 MPH tonight. A real winter wonderland! We do not have a report from atop Mt. Leconte today.

BEECH MOUNTAIN NORTH CAROLINA
One inch of snow on the ground early this morning. Another one inch expected tonight as winds gust as high as 60 MPH. Again, if that happens, you would think you are in a blizzard. And this is April 2, so it's not an April Fools joke.

Life goes on...

The Saturday web video is going to the server:

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

What a week it has been - or at least what a week the last three days have been! Storm total rainfall at my place was 3.42 inches and my observation was not the highest. JB Elliott reported on rainfall amounts in Baldwin County over 14 inches.

But what the wet end of March did for my observations - and probably for the official observation site at Birmingham International Airport - was to throw March into the above normal column. For me, January was below normal, but February and March have been above normal and April is off to a very wet start with nearly a third of the monthly normal already on the books.

Big news today - river flooding though much of it is being classified as minor - and a windy day. As the low moves northeast through the mid-Atlantic states, the pressure gradient will keep it quite breezy outside today. That pressure gradient relaxes tomorrow, so I expect to see an exceptionally fine spring day for central Alabama Sunday.

Have a great weekend.

-Brian-