Famed Weather Bureau Hurricane Forecaster Grady Norton was featured on an episode on the television show Man Behind the Badge that debuted on this date in 1955. Actor Milborne Stone played the great forecaster that had passed away just three months earlier after a grueling twelve hour shift tracking Hurricane Hazel in the Caribbean. Here is the transcript of the introduction to that show:

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Hello. I am Charles Victor. That quotation about the weather might have been true once, but it no longer holds, because one man did do something about it. One man spent his life fighting the fury of the wildest of winds – the hurricane. And he was the first to learn how to track it from its birth to its death. What does that mean?

Well, a hurricane leaping in from nowhere used to mean one day of unbridled power. The next was a day of mourning for five hundred dead. Yes, that was the death rate not so long ago. But the hurricane with its next move forecast cut that rate to five. This then was the life work of one man. And this is his story. A story? No, it’s a tribute. Because the man we are speaking of tonight died a short time ago

He will never be forgotten by those who live in or travel through a hurricane area. But can he ever be thanked enough by future generations? And so, our tribute. Our salute to Grady Norton. Tonight’s Man Behind the Badge."

Grady Norton was an Alabamian...

- Bill Murray

Good rainfall amounts across Alabama with the storm system now in progress. Samples:

0.36 of an inch at Anniston Airport
0.53 at Birmingham Airport (January surplus now about 6/10 of an onch)
0.84 at Shelby County Airport
0.97 in Mobile
0.70 at Tuscaloosa Airport
0.81 in Pinson
0.68 in Ashville
0.80 at Blue Pond (Cherokee County)
0.70 at Logan Martin Dam and Centre
0.91 at Carbon Hill
0.79 at Fort Payne
0.54 at Jasper
0.50 on Mt. Cheaha
0.92 in Oneonta
0.71 at Desoto State Park
0.75 in Steele

A FRIGID FAR NORTH
The temperature dropped to a very frigid 62 below zero at Chandalar Lake, Alaska around midnight. Some of that frigid air that has persisted over the North Pole has wedged down into Alaska. Some of the colder temperatures:

62 below zero at Chandalar Lake
51 below at Huslia
52 below at Bettles with 19 inches of snow
30 below in Barrow, 17 inches of snow, high Friday -11
35 below in Fairbanks, high Friday 27 below

GOOD OLE DEADHORSE
Excuse my fascination with Deadhorse, but I should mention that it was 37 below zero there at 7 am, Alaska time, but the wind chill was an amazing 69 below zero. Can you imagine being there at this moment. Frostbite in a few seconds unless you were extremely heavily protected. No place to walk Little Miss Molly.

Not quite as bitter cold over the "Pole" in Siberia and other parts of Russia. Coldest I could find at 10 this morning, Alabama time, was 47 below. (However, we dud not have reports from all stations)

Be sure and scan down to see Brian's Saturday morning video update and Bill Murray's interesting account about breaking bread with Elton John...

The Saturday map discussion video is on the server at:

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

Rolled over one too many times this morning. Easy to lounge in the bed with a cloudy sky and the sound of rain drops on the roof from time to time.

Cold front has entered the northwest corner of Alabama this morning as evidenced by a substantial dewpoint discontinuity - 35 at Jackson, TN, and 62 at Birmingham. Big question will be where the front will stall and believe it will stall across central Alabama giving us a focus for more showers today and Sunday. And we should stay mild with highs in the lower 60s - if the front dips a bit further south those temperatures would have to be adjusted downward ten degrees or so.

Front stays in the area through Monday when a disturbance passes by to the north and gives just a enough push to force a front through the area. So Monday could be one of those days where the temperature changes very little unless you are south of the front.

High pressure moves in on Tuesday and Wednesday allowing us a couple of dry days with relatively mild temperatures for this time of year. Moisture once again begins returning on Thursday with the possibility of showers late Thursday and into Friday. Rain chances will most likely last into Saturday, too.

The NAO, North Atlantic Oscillation, continued to forecast a negative trend into early February, and the GFS at 372 hours was hinting at a higher amplitude trough on the west coast of the US. Perhaps things are beginning to come together for a change to colder weather. Certainly something for us to watch. JB has been posting about some incredibly cold readings in Alaska and Siberia.

Hope everyone has a good weekend - stay dry!

-Brian-