Kenneth Davis sent me the following humorous story...you’ve probably heard it, but I still enjoyed it...

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS !!!!

It was snowing heavily and blowing to the point that visibility was almost zero when I got off work. I made my way to my car and wondered how I was going to make it home.
I sat in the car and let it warm up and thought about my situation.
I finally remembered my dad's advice that if I ever got caught in a blizzard, I should wait for a snow plow to come by and follow it.
And as if it were a Christmas wish come true a snow plow went by within 2 minutes and I followed it.
I was feeling very smug as I followed, not having any problem with the blizzard conditions.
After quite sometime had passed, I was somewhat surprised when the snow plow stopped and the driver got out and came back to my car and signaled me to roll down the window.
The snow plow driver wanted to know if I was all right, as I had been following him for a long time.
I said that I was fine and told him of my dad's advice to follow a snow plow when caught in a blizzard.
The driver replied that it was OK with him, and that I could continue if I wanted... but said that he was done with the Wal-Mart parking lot and was going over to K-Mart next.

Storms keep getting stronger, and a tornado watch is now up for much of north and central Alabama through 2:00 a.m.

Helicity is sky high; instability is very low. Low top storms and are producing gusty winds. Some evidence of rotation at times... we will watch them closely. No reports of any damage across west Alabama so far.

A Heavy Snow Warning continues for tonight, Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains along the California-Nevada brorder. It is no ordinary Heavy Snow Warning. At least one to three FEET of new snow will accumulate EACH DAY through Monday. Over the weekend, the NEW snow may amount to between four and nine FEET. That's 48 to well over 100 inches!

And SW winds may gust as high as 55 MPH over the weekend.

Already, 56 inches of new snow covers Lodgepole, California in King's Canyon National Park.

And in Las Vegas, rain was mixed with snow for several hours today...including moderate snow at one time! Snow showers will continue tonight.

You can drive west from Las Vegas and the topography changes from pure desert to a lush green forest. You are now on the east slopes of Mt. Charleston (and not THAT far west of Las Vegas) They received an additional 6 inches of snow in only 3 hours today for a total of 36 inches on the ground.

They will get much, much more.

More heavy snow also for Flagstaff in the high country of Northern Arizona. They still have two feet on the ground from the last storm.

Interesting to note that Jackson NWS is issuing a few severe thunderstorm warnings for counties around the Jackson metro area:

http://kamala.cod.edu/svr/

We note a number of low level shear markers on our radar with those storms,; 0 to 3 km helicity values are very high:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/s3/srh3.html

Looks like those stronger storms are in the vicinity of a meso low:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/s3/pmsl.html

Don't expect any problems here, but we will be paying attention to intensity trends.

As of 6:15, our Hamilton weathernet site is up to 0.68" of rain.

And, also of note today Las Vegas reported snow at mid-afternoon!

The afternoon video update is on the server:

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

Nope, we are not talking about Happy Days, the Bee Gees, leisure suits, and the glory days of top 40 radio. We are talking about record warmth for Alabama and much of the eastern states beginning Sunday and into early next week. Those kind of 70s.

The story is pretty much unchanged... rain tonight, clearing tomorrow, sunny and very mild on Sunday. Good chance we go into the low 70s on Sunday, and into the first few days of next week.

The big chill comes in a week, beginning on Friday January 14, and into the weekend of January 15-16. Model output suggests it could be setup for highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s, maybe teens on Sunday morning January 16. We have to keep in mind that the air will be flowing across the vast snow cover over the northern half of the nation, so temperatures should be a bit colder than the output statisics would suggest.

Still no serious evidence of any snow or ice during the change to colder weather in the January 14-18 time frame. And, the rest of the month looks pretty cold at times. See the video for the complete details.

Still making a few changes to the dates and locations for the Storm Alert 2005 tour... not quite ready to post. But, hopefully Monday. The tour will be held during February and early March...

Have a great weekend. Spend some time with your family. Turn off the computer and get some fresh air!

The morning video update is on the server:

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

Basic elements are still there for the next few days; rain late today and tonight; clearing tomorrow afternoon; sunny and very mild on Sunday as we go back into the 70s. Maybe more new record highs on Sunday.

The mid-month chill still looks on target, with the colder air arriving in about one week. Next weekend, January 15-16, looks pretty cold. Again, no hard evidence of any freezing rain problems, although is will be a narrow window open with shallow cold air at the surface and a moist southwest flow on top of that cold air layer.

Nothing overly exciting in the 10 to 15 day range... temperatures look seasonable with one or two nice clipper systems affecting areas mainly north and east of us with some snow. See the video for details.

Headed up to HOLLY POND with Bill Castle this morning... we are putting together a feature on our new meteorologist, Jason Simpson. Jason is from Cullman county, and he is more popular than Elvis in his hometown. Will be fun to find out the real scoop on Jason from the people who grew up with him. That will be one our stories for the Storm Alert 2005 tour, which begins in early February. Looks like a great show this year.

Be back for the afternoon update later today... enjoy your Friday.