On Saturday morning, August 22, 1992, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are alarmed to see that Hurricane Andrew is strengthening and moving faster toward the Bahamas and South Florida. Andrew was located 800 miles east of Miami, moving west showed the storm at 12 mph. The Aviation model was the odd-man-out on that bright sunny morning in Miami, showing the storm moving faster toward South Florida, arriving early Monday morning. By evening, the official forecast showed Andrew making landfall on the South Florida coast about midday on Monday and a Hurricane Watch was issued along the East Coast of Florida from Titusville to Key West. This gave emergency management officials and the public about thirty hours lead time before the actual landfall early Monday morning.

On Sunday morning, August 23rd, the warnings in South Florida were frantic. Strengthening Hurricane Andrew had top winds of 120 mph, making it a category 3 storm on the Saffir Simpson Scale. Located 380 miles west of Miami that morning, the storm was moving west at 15 mph. By 3:30 p.m., it was a category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph. That afternoon, Hurricane Andrew brought a 23 foot storm surge to Current Island in the Bahamas. Damage in the islands amounted to $250 million. Then as the night wore on, the small, distinct eye of Andrew was less than 100 miles away and drawing a bead on Homestead FL, south of Miami. The National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables lay directly in the path of the dangerous Hurricane. A backup crew had flown to Washington DC in case communications from fortress like facility in Coral Gables was interrupted.

Early on Monday the 24th, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in southern Dade County Florida near Homestead. The storm had the third lowest pressure ever recorded in a landfalling United States Hurricane (922 mb). Only Camille (1969) and the Labor Day Storm (1935) were stronger. Originally classified as a Category 4 storm, Andrew was upgraded to a Category 5 storm ten years later based on new research data. The storm surge peaked at 16.9 feet in Biscayne Bay. Fifteen deaths in Florida were directly attributable to Andrew, with another twenty nine as an indirect result of the storm. 63,000 homes were destroyed. 110,000 homes were damaged.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect for North Central Bibb and and East Central Tuscaloosa County until 6:30 p.m. CDT. A severe thunderstorm is indicated by radar straddling I-59 between Vance and Brookwood at 6:02 p.m. The storm is moving south at 5 mph. It will be passing over Vance shortly.

The storm is capable of producing winds in excess of 60 mph as well as deadly lightning and very heavy rainfall. Other strong storms are near Moundville and over Marion County just north of Winfield.

A severe thunderstorm warning is also in effect for Russell County in East Central Alabama.

Scattered showers and storms have developed across North and Central Alabama this afternoon. At 1:20 p.m., the primary concentrations are:

Extending from Marion County across Winston, Fayette, northern Tuscaloosa and Bibb Counties, then into Chilton and Autauga Counties...

From Limestone into Marshall Counties...

Over Jefferson and western St. Clair Counties...

The heaviest activity is over Limestone County, Marion County and Chilton County.

The strongest storms will contain brief heavy rain, deadly lightning and have the potential to produce damaging microburst winds this afternoon.

Some temperatures at 2 p.m.:

Birmingham...96F*...Heat Index 106F
Calera...93F...Heat Index 104F
Anniston...96F...Heat Index 104F
Tuscaloosa...98F*...Heat Index 108F
Huntsville...99F*...Heat Index 108F
Montgomery...95F...Heat Index 108F
Decatur...98F*...Heat Index 103F
* New high temperature mark for the year

Take it easy out there this afternoon. Stay cool!

Heat Safety Information from the Red Cross and the National Weather Service...

Signs of a heat emergency:

Heat exhaustion: Cool, moist, pale, or flushed skin; heavy sweating; headache; nausea or vomiting; dizziness; and exhaustion. Body temperature will be near normal.

Heat stroke: Hot, red skin; changes in consciousness; rapid, weak pulse; and rapid, shallow breathing.
Body temperature can be very high-- as high as 105 degrees F. If the person was sweating from heavy work or exercise, skin may be wet; otherwise, it will feel dry.

Treatment:

Heat cramps: Get the person to a cooler place and have him or her rest in a comfortable position.
Lightly stretch the affected muscle and replenish fluids. Give a half glass of cool water every 15 minutes. Do not give liquids with alcohol or caffeine in them, as they can make conditions worse.

Heat exhaustion: Get the person out of the heat and into a cooler place. Remove or loosen tight clothing and apply cool, wet cloths, such as towels or sheets. If the person is conscious, give cool water to drink. Make sure the person drinks slowly. Give a half glass of cool water every 15 minutes. Do not give liquids that contain alcohol or caffeine. Let the victim rest in a comfortable position, and watch carefully for changes in his or her condition.

Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a life-threatening situation. Help is needed fast. Call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. Move the person to a cooler place. Quickly cool the body. Immerse victim in a cool bath, or wrap wet sheets around the body and fan it. Watch for signals of breathing problems. Keep the person lying down and continue to cool the body any way you can. If the victim refuses water or is vomiting or there are changes in the level of consciousness, do not give anything to eat or drink.

The Sunday map discussion video is on the server at:

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

Okay, so I'm short of titles. But the weather is short of changes as we see another hot day across central Alabama and the Southeast United States.

It was a hot one yesterday. The NWS office in Birmingham put out this list of high temperatures:

HIGH TEMPERATURES ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
BIRMINGHAM.................95*
ANNISTON...................96* (TIED)
CALERA.....................94* (TIED)
MONTGOMERY.................97*
TUSCALOOSA.................96
TROY.......................95
PINSON.....................96*
*INDICATES HIGHEST TEMPERATURE SO FAR IN 2005

And it now appears that the front which we were hoping would bring some cooler and especially drier air to the area is not going to make it. A weak wedging pattern toward mid-week may help out on temperatures just a bit.

Tropics becoming more interesting especially in the far eastern Atlantic where a very large disturbance has moved off the African continent and continued to move westward. The National Hurricane Center described this as a strong tropical wave with potential for development during the next couple of days. This is one to watch.

Little short of time this morning and need to get to church - my Sunday to usher. Hope you have a great week. God bless.

-Brian-

From an email that is making the circuit: Experts excellent advice: When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for keys (and they all seem to do that now), do not turn the "keys" in. Take them with you and destroy them. Those little cards have on them all of the information you gave the hotel, including your address, credit card numbers, and expiration dates. Someone with a card reader, or an employee of the hotel, can access all that information with no problem whatsoever...

Alright, I can answer this one definitively, since I work in the hotel industry also. This is absolutely not true. For at least two decades, hotels have been moving from traditional metal keys to credit card keys. If you travel at all, it has probably been a long time since you even saw a traditional metal key. Today’s hotel locking system do use a plastic card with a magnetic stripe. The key is encoded by a machine at the front desk. The desk clerk enters the room number and number of nights, and the information is stored on the magnetic stripe. The machine uses an algorithm to generate a code that the lock is programmed to accept. The beauty of the system is that if a key is lost or stole, the hotel can make a new key that invalidates all previous keys. This way, an old key can never be used to open a room. The keys also expire at check out time.

I can assure you that 99% of the electronic locking systems do not encode any guest information on the credit card key. There are additional tracks of magnetic information that could be used, but it is just not done. So next time you go to a hotel, you can rest assured that your key will not make you a victim of identity theft. That does not say that a desk clerk with bad intentions cannot steal your credit card number. That can and does happen.