In search of the perfect climate.
Where can I find it?
What is a perfect climate?
Does it even exist?
Good questions and no easy answers. In fact, possibly impossible to answer. Pretend for a moment that you could live anywhere in the 50 states. Based on climate only, where would you choose? For this question, disregard being close to family, relatives and friends, the economy of the area, convenient shopping and health care and job opportunities.
Would you choose Vermont or New Hampshire? Probably the most beautiful autumn color, but how about the winter?
Think about the mountains of Colorado or Wyoming. Plenty of natural beauty and very pleasant summers. But, how about the long cold winters and all that snow. How about the Central Plains—places like Oklahoma and Kansas? I am fond of that section of the country but consider the blistering summer heat, lots of wind and occasional blowing dust. And, yes, those champion tornadoes.
Upper Michigan or Buffalo? Nice summers but snow by the tons in winter.
Arizona and California Desert? Beautiful country but exceeding low humidity, dust storms and day-after-day of triple-digit heat.
No thanks. I will stay right where I am. I can take the summer humidity and our threat of severe weather. But we have moderate winters and we rarely have 100-degree heat. I admit my selection may be tainted since I have never lived outside the state of Alabama. But, I have traveled extensively and it is always great to get back home. Life goes on...
—J B Elliott
In Search Of The Perfect Climate
February 24, 2006, 10:57 pm
by James Spann
in General Thoughts
Rain Coming Up The Track
February 24, 2006, 9:49 pm
Rain was already spreading into Extreme Southwest Alabama this evening. However, it was mostly light so far.
Some heavier showers were over the south third of Mississippi.
Everything moving toward the ENE.
Looks like a wet Saturday for Alabama. The lighter rain will be near the Tennessee River and heaviest down south where well over two inches could fall over the south third of the state. Some thunderstorms down south also.
70 in Mobile and Montgomery this afternoon, 68 in Tuscaloosa and 67 in Birmingham and Anniston. Huntsville had 64.
Heavy cloud cover and rain will hold Central Alabama highs to the 50s Saturday.
Some heavier showers were over the south third of Mississippi.
Everything moving toward the ENE.
Looks like a wet Saturday for Alabama. The lighter rain will be near the Tennessee River and heaviest down south where well over two inches could fall over the south third of the state. Some thunderstorms down south also.
70 in Mobile and Montgomery this afternoon, 68 in Tuscaloosa and 67 in Birmingham and Anniston. Huntsville had 64.
Heavy cloud cover and rain will hold Central Alabama highs to the 50s Saturday.
Working For The Weekend
February 24, 2006, 3:14 pm
The Friday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
"Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh
You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go"
The weekend will start off with a wet day tomorrow, but the models are really suggesting the heaviest rain will be over the southern half of the state. In fact, the WRF and the NAM really have no rain at all north of I-20. The GFS suggests rain for much of the state, but again the QPF is heaviest south of U.S. 80.
Sunday will be dry with sunshine returning, but the day will be breezy and cool. Highs should be in the low 50s, and most communities will reach the upper 20s by early Monday morning.
NEXT WEEK: New GFS MOS guidance has us zooming into the 60s on Tuesday, with low 70s on Wednesday Sure sounds good to me. The chance of rain still looks rather small on those days, the better chance of wet weather should come over the latter half of the week.
LONG RANGE: The on-off again severe weather look is on again in the March 5-7 time frame. A big system comes out of the Rockies, with a negative tilt short wave over the plains on March 6. This would suggest some risk of strong to severe storms around here; still too early to be specific or really confident in any detailed solution. Colder air should follow that system March 8-9 over much of the eastern U.S.
NEW CATEGORY: I have created a new category on the blog called "pictures"... I will have all posts with images (most of them sent in by readers) listed there so you can go straight to them anytime you want to see them. This will be taking the place of the "cool pictures" part of the ABC 33/40 web site. The categories are listed on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also read bios on the people who post here, and go back to any certain date to read older posts.
STORM ALERT 2006: Your last chance to see our annual severe weather awareness show is Tuesday of next week. We will be at the Northport Civic Center at 7:00 p.m., but as you can see from the crowd at Gadsden (below this post), get there early to get a good seat!
Have a great weekend and spend some quality time with your family!
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
"Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh
You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go"
The weekend will start off with a wet day tomorrow, but the models are really suggesting the heaviest rain will be over the southern half of the state. In fact, the WRF and the NAM really have no rain at all north of I-20. The GFS suggests rain for much of the state, but again the QPF is heaviest south of U.S. 80.
Sunday will be dry with sunshine returning, but the day will be breezy and cool. Highs should be in the low 50s, and most communities will reach the upper 20s by early Monday morning.
NEXT WEEK: New GFS MOS guidance has us zooming into the 60s on Tuesday, with low 70s on Wednesday Sure sounds good to me. The chance of rain still looks rather small on those days, the better chance of wet weather should come over the latter half of the week.
LONG RANGE: The on-off again severe weather look is on again in the March 5-7 time frame. A big system comes out of the Rockies, with a negative tilt short wave over the plains on March 6. This would suggest some risk of strong to severe storms around here; still too early to be specific or really confident in any detailed solution. Colder air should follow that system March 8-9 over much of the eastern U.S.
NEW CATEGORY: I have created a new category on the blog called "pictures"... I will have all posts with images (most of them sent in by readers) listed there so you can go straight to them anytime you want to see them. This will be taking the place of the "cool pictures" part of the ABC 33/40 web site. The categories are listed on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also read bios on the people who post here, and go back to any certain date to read older posts.
STORM ALERT 2006: Your last chance to see our annual severe weather awareness show is Tuesday of next week. We will be at the Northport Civic Center at 7:00 p.m., but as you can see from the crowd at Gadsden (below this post), get there early to get a good seat!
Have a great weekend and spend some quality time with your family!
Huge Gadsden Crowd
February 24, 2006, 8:22 am
What a great crowd at last night's Storm Alert 2006 show in Gadsden... thanks to everyone who came out! Our final stop on this year's tour is next Tuesday night at the Northport Civic Center...
by James Spann
in Pictures
A Saturday Soaking
February 24, 2006, 7:05 am
The Friday morning map discussion video is on the server:
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
What a great crowd for our Storm Alert 2006 show in Gadsden last night... I will post a few pictures shortly. Our last stop on the tour this year is TUESDAY of next week (not Thursday) at the Northport Civic Center.
WARMING UP: Both the NAM and the GFS are showing 68 for today. Sure sounds good; we will have filtered sunshine and no rain.
WET WEEKEND START: A nice wave will bring rain back to the state tomorrow. It could very well rain much of the day, and my gut feeling is that the axis of heaviest rain will be near U.S. 80 (Demopolis to Selma to Montgomery to Auburn). But, the WRF has a 2 inch strip closer to I-20. One way or another, we should be pretty wet tomorrow. And, remember all models really underestimated the amount of rain with the system a couple of days ago big time.
Some strong thunderstorms will be possible over the far southern part of Alabama on Saturday; we don't expect any severe weather problems up here. Just lots of rain.
DRIER SUNDAY: Sunshine returns on Sunday with a cool breeze. Parts of North Alabama might not see 50; we expect low 50s here. Then, we should go below freezing Monday morning with upper 20s likely.
NEXT WEEK: We should enjoy some spring-like temperatures by the middle of next week. Would not be surprised if we see some low 70s. The GFS continues to weaken the Monday night/Tuesday feature, and little rain shows up on the 06Z run. Some rain will be possible later in the week as moisture deepens.
MARCH MADNESS: The GFS has the March 4-6 system back on the table. A strong upper storm moves from Colorado to the high plains. This would still keep the greatest severe weather threat northwest of Alabama, if that is correct. Our stormiest day would be March 6 if the 06Z run is on the money. Generally speaking, the first half of the month looks active with frequent rain producers. And, we still have cold air to the north, and some of that might try to slip in here from time to time.
I will have the next map discussion video posted by 3:30 this afternoon... enjoy the 60s today!
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
What a great crowd for our Storm Alert 2006 show in Gadsden last night... I will post a few pictures shortly. Our last stop on the tour this year is TUESDAY of next week (not Thursday) at the Northport Civic Center.
WARMING UP: Both the NAM and the GFS are showing 68 for today. Sure sounds good; we will have filtered sunshine and no rain.
WET WEEKEND START: A nice wave will bring rain back to the state tomorrow. It could very well rain much of the day, and my gut feeling is that the axis of heaviest rain will be near U.S. 80 (Demopolis to Selma to Montgomery to Auburn). But, the WRF has a 2 inch strip closer to I-20. One way or another, we should be pretty wet tomorrow. And, remember all models really underestimated the amount of rain with the system a couple of days ago big time.
Some strong thunderstorms will be possible over the far southern part of Alabama on Saturday; we don't expect any severe weather problems up here. Just lots of rain.
DRIER SUNDAY: Sunshine returns on Sunday with a cool breeze. Parts of North Alabama might not see 50; we expect low 50s here. Then, we should go below freezing Monday morning with upper 20s likely.
NEXT WEEK: We should enjoy some spring-like temperatures by the middle of next week. Would not be surprised if we see some low 70s. The GFS continues to weaken the Monday night/Tuesday feature, and little rain shows up on the 06Z run. Some rain will be possible later in the week as moisture deepens.
MARCH MADNESS: The GFS has the March 4-6 system back on the table. A strong upper storm moves from Colorado to the high plains. This would still keep the greatest severe weather threat northwest of Alabama, if that is correct. Our stormiest day would be March 6 if the 06Z run is on the money. Generally speaking, the first half of the month looks active with frequent rain producers. And, we still have cold air to the north, and some of that might try to slip in here from time to time.
I will have the next map discussion video posted by 3:30 this afternoon... enjoy the 60s today!
Page :
1