Thanks to Alston Keith of Inverness for this update and the pictures of the new National Weather Service Office in Key West, Florida...

Alston writes:

As promised, here are my pictures from the tour we took of the new Key West NWS office.  I really enjoyed seeing their operations. Items of note:  the building is built to withstand winds up to 160 MPH, the shelter is reinforced concrete that is built to withstand winds of 250 MPH+ (including missiles/debris).  The room will hold up to 100 people and has a telephone and men/women bathroom facilities.

Just below the balloon launch tower is a room where NWS families can stay for an extended period if need be.  It can hold up to 16 people comfortably.

One other item of note...the elevation of the building is 15 feet above sea level.  According to studies done, the highest storm surge Key West could possibly receive is 14.5 feet. 

Our first true chase day . . .

We headed west on I-70 from Salina on the morning of day 9 (May 22). After the previous two days of waiting, waiting, waiting, we were hoping that we at least did not have to do any more sitting around. Eastern Colorado looked like the place to be, as the SPC had issued a slight risk area in the vicinity. The setup didn't look extremely great for supercell formation, but it looked like we might get to see some storms.

We crossed the Colorado state line, and I was hoping that we might make it far west enough to get a glimpse of the Front Range of the Rockies. We didn't, but we were able to get a nice view of a line of storms that was too far to our west to be able to chase. So we began to head north in order to position ourselves in front of the area where storms seemed to be forming to the west. We stopped in Wray, Colorado, for a little break at a gas station, and while we were there we thought me might make a stop in the Wray City Park.

Wray City Park wasn't nearly as cool as Winfield City Park, but thankfully we didn't have to stay there nearly as long. We got out of the vans and within ten minutes we began to notice a tower going up near us. Finally, it looked like we were going to see a real thunderstorm!!! After watching the storm develop from the park for several minutes, we jumped in the vans and started to chase.

The storm wasn't anything special, but we were able to position ourselves so that it was definitely nice to look at. The view of the spreading anvil from underneath the storm was awesome and we got to experience some nice wind gusts from the inflow. The storm began to weaken, and another one was forming further north, so we headed towards it. Once we had positioned ourselves to the east of the second storm we pulled over on the side of the road to watch it. There was no threat of a tornado, and we were originally going to try to "core punch" the storm (drive towards the center of the storm so we could experience some hail), but the road network in the area would not allow us to do that.

The view of the storm was nice, as the sun was beginning to set, and we even were able to find a few mammatus clouds in the storm. That was about it though, and as the storm began to weaken we headed towards North Platte, Nebraska, to stay for the night.


Drew and two friends looking at the storm in Wray...


In the background, the second storm of the day...

Next time . . . day 10 (the day we had all been waiting for)

Widely spaced thunderstorms that developed late this afternoon and early this evening have all but faded away except for a few over Extreme South Alabama.

This will be our final update unless some new storms form (unlikely)

Some scattered showers and even a few thunderstorms developed across Central Alabama late this afternoon and early this evening.

Just before 7:00 p.m. the storms were located:
* South Walker County south of Jasper and Oakman (some of the stronger ones)
* Bibb County NE of Centreville/Brent
* West Shelby County (an isolated one)
* Along the Clay-Tallapoosa County line in East-Central Alabama
* Along the Randolph-Chambers County line also in East Alabama

Some stronger storms were over South Alabama south and SE of Troy and near Monroeville.

We had one report of some trees down east of Oxford, which is near Anniston.

At the ABC 33/40 studios in Riverchase, there was 0.05 of an inch of rain.

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the web and on iTunes:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

With the summer solstice tomorrow morning at 7:26 local time, today and tomorrow are the "longest days" of the year. Of course, technically that isn't correct since each day has 24 hours, but we have the greatest amount of daylight on these days. After tomorrow, the days begin to get shorter, and the nights longer.

RIGHT NOW: The temperature at the Birmingham Airport, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery is 96 degrees; only Auburn and Dothan are hotter... both of those cities are reporting 97. Dewpoints are running in the low 60s, so humidity values are fairly low (32 percent at Birmingham). But I think it is safe to say 96 is a little uncomfortable for most folks.

No relief tomorrow... we go back into the mid 90s with very little chance of a cooling afternoon shower.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY: We will introduce the chance of a few afternoon showers or storms on both days, but they will be widely scattered. And, the heat backs off a few degrees. But, we will still see a high above 90 in most places.

THE WEEKEND: As the air becomes a little more unstable, and a weak front approaches from the north, you might see a little increase in the number of afternoon showers and storms on Saturday, and especially on Sunday. But remember, scattered is the big word; rainfall distribution will be very uneven, and some places will miss the rain.

The GFS continues to suggest a fairly decent chance of afternoon showers and storms Monday and Tuesday of next week, but remember, it is best not to forecast some big rain event in the middle of a drought... we will just have to wait and see.

LONG RANGE: The GFS suggesting really typical weather for the end of June and the first week of July; afternoon temperatures reaching the low 90s with some chance of a shower or storm almost daily in scattered spots during the afternoon and evening hours. No sign of any major, widespread rain event, however.

TROPICS: We have an interesting flare up of convection just east of the Bahamas, but that system is very disorganized and it should not affect our weather. The rest of the Atlantic basin for now is fairly quiet.

WEATHER BRAINS: The new WeatherBrains podcast is available... on iTunes or on the web:

http://www.weatherbrains.com/

Look for the next map discussion video by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

* 3.38 inches is how much rain fell during the night at Palacious, Texas. More thunderstorms with heavy rain are migrating northward toward the Houston area where they had big time flooding yesterday.

* 9.29 inches is how much rain that fell at Houston/Hobby Airport in just a few hours yesterday.

* 11.71 inches of rain fell at Liberty, Texas in the same general area.

* 50 was the low temperature atop Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains this morning. That is about the only cool area in the southeast. The high/low for Gatlinburg was 87/61.

* 1,800 thunderstorms is how many are in progress at any given moment on earth.

* 16 million is the approximate number of thunderstorms each year.

* 25 million is the estimated number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the USA each year.

* 14 is the number of major league baseball parks that Bill Murray has seen games in. Bill is the most avid baseball fan I know--rivaling the legendary Casey Stengal.

* 64 is the number of regular season major league games that Bill has seen.

* 27 is the number of playoff and world series games.

* 0 is the number of college basketball games that I have seen in person. Ironically, I love college basketball much more than the NBA.

* 0 is the number of lightning warnings that Brian Peters had to issue for City Stages this past weekend. Brian has been the meteorology consultant for City Stages almost from the beginning. He is always on site watching carefully for lightning and other storms. He has instant communications with the whole City Stages network.

* 400 is the approximate number of homes still threatened by a raging fire in scenic Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona. The fires are only 5% contained. That deep canyon is a very scenic area south of Flagstaff with huge red cliffs and outcroppings. A lot of western movies are filmed there. When you drive south of Flagstaff on the old US-89, you suddenly drop rapidly in elevation via a series of very scary switchbacks. We spent our honeymoon in the lower end of Oak Creek Canyon in the Sedona-Cottonwood area 46 years ago and have visited that area a number of times. I know of one Alabama family that wanted to move to Cottonwood, Arizona and when they got to the top of the canyon to start down the switchbacks, they were so frightened that they cancelled the idea.

* 80 is how old Harper Lee is. She is a legend, of course, from Monroeville, Alabama with her one and only best seller, "To Kill A Mockingbird." Our colleague, Bill Murray's father-in-law, is one of the main actors in the annual play that is held each year in Monroeville. He is A. B. Blass and he plays the part of the baliff. Bill's wife, Sally, is from Monroeville.

* 0.15 is all the rain that has fallen on Anniston Airport for the entire month of June so far. Only 0.03 has fallen in the last 18 days counting today.

* 119 was the USA high in Death Valley Monday. That spot holds the all-time USA record of 134 degrees.

* 27 was the low this morning in Stanley, Idaho. Stanley is nestled among the Sawtooth Mountains on the banks of the Salmon River. The Sawtooth Mountains have jagged peaks reminding you of a crosscut saw.

* 115 was the temperature in Basrah, Iraq at 5:00 p.m. today (Iraq time). The humidity was only 6% and the wind was from the NW at 33 mph. Translation: there has to be a lot of blowing dust and sand. Check out our Weather Brains broadcast that we taped last night. David Black, our colleague and moderator, was able to land an interview with a British soldier on duty in Iraq.

* 100 below zero was the temperature at 10 o'clock this morning (Alabama time) at Vostok, Antarctica. The wind chill was 132 below.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, the vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."

That is one of my favorite sayings of the legendary Alabama native, Helen Keller.

WeatherBrains episode 21 is on the web and available on iTunes:

http://www.weatherbrains.com/

In this week's show:

-James Spann reveals the ABC 33/40 Skywatcher Network, a new Internet-based real-time severe weather reporting system connecting public volunteer skywatchers with ABC 33/40 meteorologists;

-David Black takes us to a Pelham produce stand where we learn about the effects the lack of rain is having on Chilton county peaches;

-J. B. Elliott is declared Birmingham's weather legend;

-We discuss the just completed City Stages -- Brian Peters talks about protecting concert goers during severe weather;

-Hot and dangerous: We meet a British soldier, on-duty in Iraq, who talks about the weather;

-Partly sunny, partly cloudy, mostly sunny and mostly cloudy: J.B. and Brian talk about what they mean...

The Tuesday morning map discussion video is on the web, and available on iTunes:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Anyone remember this song from the 70s?

"Whenever I'm with him
Something inside
Starts to burning
And I'm filled with desire
Could it be the devil in me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart
Can't keep from crying
It's tearing me apart"

Today won't feel like a heat wave, it IS a heat wave. Sure looks like most spots will go into the 95 to 100 degree range today with lots of sun and very little soil moisture. I have 94 in the forecast package for today right now, and that needs to be raised. The heat will probably be just as intense tomorrow. And, the chance of a cooling shower in the afternoon for any one spot is tiny.

SEARCHING FOR RAIN: A few widely scattered afternoon showers or storms could show up by Thursday and Friday, and the heat should back off a few degrees. Perhaps the best chance of an afternoon shower or storms will come late in the weekend on Suinday as a weak surface boundary drifts down toward the Tennessee Valley. But, the showers will be scattered.

NEXT WEEK: The GFS develops a trough over the Great Lakes early next week with a general weakness in the upper ridge below that here across the Deep South. So, at least there will be some chance of scattered afternoon showers and storms. With the weakness, highs should be closer to 90 next week.

LONG RANGE: Pretty much a routine looking pattern; the GFS suggests the most intense heat will be over the southwest U.S.... around here as we begin July we are looking at partly sunny hot days and fair humid nights; each afternoon a shower or storms might pop up. Of course, day to day weather changes in the summer here are mostly based on mesoscale features you won't see more than a few days in advance.

TROPICS: We have a little flare up of convection this morning over the central and southern Bahamas, but nothing organized. And, our wave over the eastern Caribbean seems to be fizzling out on us. The Atlantic basin is generally quiet.

ABC 33/40 SKYWATCHERS: We continue to look for volunteer severe storm spotters for a new citizen reporting network we are building. We are looking for people who have been through basic SKYWARN training, or who have a good grasp on thunderstorm structure, and are willing to report weather to use via an Instant Message network. We also will be asking for digital still pictures or video if possible. And, our main need now is for people in rural counties, where there are no reporting stations. Interested? Send me an e-mail and tell me about yourself: jspann@abc3340.com

I will have the next map discussion video here by 3:30 this afternoon!