May 28, 1973 was Monday, Memorial Day. I was in the fifth grade. We had to go to school that day. It was the last day of school. The day dawned beautifully cool and crisp. It was nothing like the day before had been

I awakened on Sunday morning, May 27, 1973 with a warm breeze blowing through an open window. It was more than a breeze. It was a stiff southerly wind. It was very humid. The air had a very foreboding feel to it. I knew it as that unmistakable feel of tornado weather. Unusual for that late in May, but serious.

What I did not know that morning was that strong low pressure was centered near Omaha, Nebraska. A strong cold front curved around through Missouri and Arkansas. Ahead of the front, a squall line extended over western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Warm, moist air covered Alabama. At 6 a.m., it was 72 degrees in Birmingham with a dew point of 69F along with a south wind of 15 mph. I also did not know that several tornadoes had occurred on Saturday, including a deadly F4 that moved through the business district of Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Severe weather began over North Alabama around 1:30 p.m. when tornadoes touched down near Hulaco in Cullman County. This F2 tornado moved along a 25 mile path, to the Arab and Eddy areas. This same thunderstorm produced another F2 tornado that moved across Jackson County from near Section to Dutton. These first two tornadoes killed no one, and injured ten.

Further south, trouble was brewing over Tuscaloosa County. I clearly remember listening intently to tornado warnings for Tuscaloosa County, knowing full well that those storms would affect Jefferson County. Fortunately, those storms produced no significant severe weather as they passed. Relieved that the weather was over, I went out to play. The weather was not over....

The Friday afternoon web video is on the server:

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

Still looks a wet Memorial Day for Alabama and the deep south. The models are still having some problems resolving shower opportunities for tomorrow and Sunday. At the moment it looks like the best chance of a shower tomorrow will come during the morning, and on Sunday late in the afternoon and at night. There should be some pretty good periods of sunshine tomorrow afternoon and during the day Sunday.

Rain will increase Sunday night in response to an approaching upper trough, and rain and storms will be widespread on Monday. Rain totals around 2 inches seem likely between Sunday night and Tuesday morning, when the rain will move on to the east. A few strong storms could be involved, but we are not expecting a major severe weather threat at this time.

NEXT WEEK: Generally speaking, the week looks wet. There should be a break in the rain Tuesday afternoon and part of the day Wednesday, but another wave on the stalled front will bring another good round of rain and storms Wednesday night into Thursday. And, more rain is possible late Friday night Saturday (June 3-4), so some beneficial amounts of rain are a real possibility for Alabama during the next seven to ten days.

Once again, trying to time out the specific rain events next week is very hard to do this early in the game...

Many of you have a nice long weekend ahead... if you are traveling be safe and enjoy some down time!

The Friday morning web video is on the server:

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

Today will feature dry and warm weather for Alabama with temperatures topping out in the low to mid 80s.

We will continue to mention the risk of a shower or two tomorrow, but at this point I am not convinced we will see very much rain tomorrow or Sunday. A surface front will move southward tomorrow, triggering a few scattered showers, and then the models are in pretty good agreement the front will be close to U.S. 80 by tomorrow night, which would put much of north and central Alabama in dry air for Sunday. If this trend continues on the 12Z runs, we can almost eliminate the risk of showers on Sunday, with all of them limited to south Alabama.

But, Monday still looks wet as a surface low spins up near Shreveport and the front moves northward as a warm front. Some beneficial rain seems likely, and maybe even a strong storm or two. Looks like the rain could linger into at least a part of the day Tuesday before dry air returns Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Then, the GFS shows a system for Thursday and Friday of next week (June 2-3) that looks more like March; a deep surface low near Memphis with decent upper support. That would suggest a severe weather threat, but the GFS is probably being too aggressive. One way or another, it does look like wet weather will return for the latter half of the week.

Between the two systems next week, parts of Alabama could easily see over two inches of rain, and possibly more. I know this is not very convienent, but it will greatly help to reduce the rain deficit for the year and help improve the soil moisture.

Hurricane season begins next Wednesday... so we will begin scanning the Atlantic basin on a regular basis!