PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
730 PM CDT MON SEP 26 2005

...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE (NWS) BIRMINGHAM SURVEYS ARE ONGOING...

AS OF 730 PM...THE FOLLOWING ARE THE LATEST FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY
TEAMS:

TWO SEPARATE TORNADOES OCCURRED IN WINSTON COUNTY. BOTH WERE F0 ON
THE FUJITA DAMAGE SCALE (F0 TO F5). ONE TORNADO TRACK WAS 1/4 MILE
LONG AND 50 YARDS WIDE LOCATED ABOUT FOUR MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF
DOUBLE SPRINGS NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 195 AND COUNTY ROAD
8. THE OTHER TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR THE TOWN OF FAIRVIEW AND WAS
TWO MILES LONG AND 150 YARDS WIDE.

AN F0 TORNADO TRACK WAS FOUND IN THE COATOPA COMMUNITY IN EASTERN
SUMTER COUNTY...ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LIVINGSTON. THE TRACK
WAS ABOUT 2.8 MILES LONG...AND NO MORE THAN 50 YARDS WIDE. THE PATH
BEGAN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF STATE ROUTE 28 AND COUNTY ROAD
23...AND ENDED NEAR THE EASTERN INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROAD 23 AND
MUNDY ROAD.

AFTER EXTENSIVE AERIAL AND GROUND SURVEYS ACROSS WESTERN TUSCALOOSA
COUNTY...AT LEAST 8 SEPARATE TORNADO TRACKS WERE DISCOVERED.
PRELIMINARY DATA SUGGEST THAT 2 F1'S AND 6 F0'S OCCURRED. FURTHER
REVIEW OF SURVEY PHOTOS AND RADAR DATA IS ONGOING AND A LIST OF THE
TRACK LOCATIONS AND FINAL RATINGS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TUESDAY
MORNING. AT THIS TIME...ONLY TWO INJURIES WERE REPORTED WITH THE
TORNADOES IN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY. ONE MAN REMAINS HOSPITALIZED. BOTH
INJURIES OCCURRED NEAR THE BUHL COMMUNITY. THE TORNADOES ALSO
AFFECTED THE LAKE LURLEEN AREA WHERE SEVERAL FAMILIES FROM LOUISIANA
HAVE BEEN HOUSED. NONE OF THESE TEMPORARY RESIDENCES WERE DAMAGED. A
SPECIAL THANKS GO OUT TO THE TUSCALOOSA POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR
PROVIDING THE AERIAL SURVEY.

EXTENSIVE SURVEYS WERE DONE ACROSS NORTHERN GREENE AND SOUTHERN
FAYETTE COUNTIES...BUT NO OBSERVABLE DAMAGE COULD BE FOUND IN
EITHER LOCATION. SURVEYS ARE ALSO ONGOING IN LAMAR...NORTHERN
FAYETTE...AND WALKER COUNTIES.

AT LEAST ONE SURVEY IS PLANNED FOR PICKENS COUNTY ON TUESDAY...AND
OTHERS MAY BE NEEDED AS WELL. ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED
AS INFORMATION CONTINUES TO BE GATHERED.

IF ANYONE HAS RECEIVED OR KNOWS ABOUT ANY DAMAGE IN YOUR AREA OF
WESTERN ALABAMA...PLEASE CALL OUR TOLL FREE NUMBER AT
1-800-856-0758.

From the mailbag…

After Sunday’s tornado outbreak we had our usual mixed bag of e-mail notes, from both the tornado coverage haters, and those who appreciate the “wall to wall” coverage:

“You have no idea how fed up so very many in your 'viewing area' are with your total disregard for the wishes of the majority of viewers to, yes, be made aware of any impending weather problems, but NO to completely pre-empting network programming.

For instance, I have already phoned your station about tonight's SEASON PREMIERS of "Extreme Home Makeovers" and "Gray's Anatomy", and received the usual response about "your policy". Why is that OTHER local channels can accomplish the exact same thing by either a scroll across the bottom of the screen, or a small 'window' in a lower corner of the screen? One example was your blocking out the season finale of "Dancing with the Stars"... “

And… another point of view:

“My family and I live in Buhl on Sipsey Valley Rd. N. I would like to thank you so very much for the team coverage. I thought at one time we were goners..... I don't think I have ever been as scared as I was. My family and I watched all three storms form. They seemed to form right in our front yard I could'nt believe it. The last storm that formed hit right at the end of our driveway looking left all four houses were damaged. When the sky turned a funny greenish grey color I called my sister in Gadsen and told her I loved her and this was it. We heard it when it hit we did'nt know what it hit but we were praying just let everyone be ok. God's GREAT HE MADE A CARING TEAM ABC33/40.

Thanks for all you do.Thank you again. It's great to know that James you have a EVER LASTING voice that keeps us informed. YOUR GREAT KEEP UP THE WONDERFUL JOB YOU HELP KEEP all of us safe by knowing whats going on no matter where we are on the map."

By the way, ratings showed that ABC 33/40 had a huge audience during our long form coverage; considerably more people watched our weather coverage than any other program Sunday night, including “Desperate Housewives”. We thank you for your confidence in our coverage.. it is a responsibility we do not take lightly.

Sad news from the NWS office in Mobile within the hour concerning these three weather related deaths in recent days:

NWUS54 KMOB 262256
LSRMOB

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
556 PM CDT MON SEP 26 2005

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0300 PM EXCESSIVE HEAT 2 N TILLMANS CORNER 30.62N 88.17W
09/20/2005 95 F MOBILE AL NEWSPAPER

*** 1 FATAL *** CHILD LEFT IN A CLOSED VAN FOR TWO AND A
HALF HOURS IN THE AFTERNOON AND HE DIED

1200 PM RIP CURRENTS ORANGE BEACH 30.30N 87.58W
09/25/2005 BALDWIN AL NEWSPAPER

*** 1 FATAL *** 41 YEAR OLD WOMAN DIED WHEN TRYING TO
HELP SON

0400 PM RIP CURRENTS GULF SHORES 30.25N 87.70W
09/25/2005 BALDWIN AL NEWSPAPER

*** 1 FATAL *** MAN IN HIS EARLY 20S FOUND DEAD AT GULF
SHORES PUBLIC BEACH

We now have about 18 minutes of our continuous coverage yesterday on the video page... including the live video of the tornado in western Tuscaloosa county:

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

Sure brings back memories of the December 2000 tornado captured by that same camera!

**There will be no afternoon map discussion video today**

The computer used for producing the map discussion video is now rendering the Tuscaloosa tornado Towercam video. This will be about 18 minutes of the "wall to wall" coverage from yesterday when the tornado was live on the camera moving through western Tuscaloosa county. It should be finished and posted by 3:00 or so... I will put a note up on the blog when it is ready for viewing.

WHAT A SOAKING: Scroll down to see J.B.'s list of rain totals around the state from the past 24 hours. So much for this being one of the driest Septembers on record. We can thank Rita for that.

WARMER: Sunshine returns in full force tomorrow with upper 80s likely Some spots might touch 90.

COOLER: Much cooler air rolls in here by Thursday and Friday. There could be a few scattered showers along the front Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, but moisture will be very limited and many places will be not get wet. Highs drop into the 76 to 80 degree range on Thursday and Friday, and 50s look likely both Friday and Saturday morning.

WEEKEND: The 12Z run of the GFS tries to bring enough moisture in here Sunday for a few scattered showers, but for the moment we will maintain a dry forecast both Saturday and Sunday with highs in the low 80s, near normal for late September in Alabama.

TROPICS: Models are now picking up on the wave in the central Caribbean. Two models take the system into the Gulf of Mexico, two turn it more northward toward the Bahamas. I have fear this thing is headed for the Gulf...

And, the parade of waves is still active in the eastern Atlantic as well. Nope, this hurricane season is far from over.

The next map discussion video will be produced by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow as we get back on schedule...

We have been teasing ABC 33/40 Weather Watcher, Natahan Jones in the "Helena Desert" For much of the mid and late summer, Nathan would watch as showers and storms took the east or west bypass around Helena leaving his location high and dry. Well, Miss Rita took care of that for both him and Brian Peters who live one-half mile from each other.

Here is a roundup of Rita rainfall. Most of these amounts are for the last 24 hours which is essentially the storm total for most locations.

3.47 inches in Helena (Nathan Jones)
4.37 at Helena (Brian Peters)
4.06 at Greystone Cove (James Spann)
2.07 in NE Trussville (Molly's House)
4.00 at Decatur Airport
3.14 at Muscle Shoals
2.47 at Huntsville
0.79 at Childersburg
1.60 in Selma
1.48 at Montgomery
1.07 in Ensley (Avenue "W" Bridge)
3.49 at Smith Dam
2.22 at Oliver Dam (Tuscaloosa)
1.71 at Holt Dam (east edge of Tuscaloosa)
2.79 at Selden Lock and Dam
3.80 at Gainesville Lock and Dam
4.24 at Demopolis Lock and Dam
2.72 at Livingston
4.03 in Alabaster
6.37 in Hamilton
2.69 at Evergreen (partial total)
3.22 at Bevil Lock and Dam
5.00 at Arkadelphia (filled their new pond to a depth of 6 to 7 feet
8.50* at Newbern (SE Hale County)

* 5 inches up until midnight and an additional 3.50 since. This report from a WAKA-TV, Montgomery WeatherWatcher. Thanks to Channel 8 for sharing trhat report.

More pictures from Tuscaloosa from Linda Mason below:

I figured we need to strike while the iron is hot...

If you want to be trained to be a severe weather spotter, the best training event in the state is coming up on Saturday October 15 at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Storm Alert XTREME will feature a basic and advanced SKYWARN training session by our meteorologist Brian Peters, who trained over 6,000 spotters in Alabama during his days with the National Weather Service. And, Jeff Craven from the NWS in Jackson will be our special guest speaker this year. You can see the entire agenda here:

http://beta.abc3340.com/external.hrb?p=stormalert&w=1

Storm Alert XTREME is completely free and we hope to see you there!

Here are some pictures of the tornado damage yesterday on the campus of Mississippi State University, taken by one of our online weather watchers, Gary Goggins. You can read more about the damage here.

The Monday morning map discussion video is on the server:

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

What a soaking during the pre-dawn hours... many spots picked up 2 to 4 inches. We will post a full listing of actual observations here a little later. That is one of the positives... we sure needed that rain.

A check of my rain gauge here in northern Shelby county shows 4.06 inches!

I will have the towercam video of the Tuscaloosa tornado posted by early afternoon on the video page (the same page that features the map discussion videos)....

I really felt sorry for my friends at the other local stations yesterday... I know they caught the large majority of the hate mail since we only covered some informercials (we did have to cover the first part of Extreme Home Makeover)... they had to deal with golf and NFL football issues. I would not want to see their inbox.

I am really thankful the severe weather ended by the time "Desperate Housewives" came on the air. Otherwise I would have to be out of the country for a while.

Soon enough we will all have digital TV receivers and with our multicasting ability this won't be a problem anymore....

TROPICS: Nothing especially organized for now, but the season is far from over. Watching one wave over the central Caribbean this morning, and a series of waves in the eastern Atlantic. A good looking one is about to emerge off the coast of Africa.

AROUND HERE: The rain will push eastward today... ending from west to east. The rest of the week will be dry. Afternoons very warm tomorrow and Wednesday with upper 80s likely; some spots might even reach 90. Then, a nice shot of much cooler air rolls in here Wednesday night. This will drop highs into the 78-82 degree range by Thursday and Friday, and a good chance we go into the 50s by Friday morning.

THE WEEKEND: This is race weekend at Talladega. Looks pretty good for now; we will not mention any chance of rain with comfortable temperatures. We will watch a short wave moving through Oklahoma up toward Illinois; this might bring a few clouds but the air will be pretty dry, and with the wave passing to the north we will stick with a dry forecast.

Going to eat an early lunch with some third graders and will be into the station to put the towercam video up on the web site. We do have still pictures on the blog sent in by a viewer.... will be interesting to see the story survey results from the National Weather Service later today.

The afternoon map discussion will be posted by 3:30 as always.