On the road…

J.B. Elliott and I had a very enjoyable trip to Cullman county on Wednesday. We attended a ceremony honoring Jim McCravy of Hanceville, who was awarded the 2004 Thomas Jefferson Award, presented by John Gordon and Lary Burgett of the National Weather Service in Huntsville. The award is the most prestigious in the NWS Cooperative Weather Observer Program, with only 11 being presented to cooperative weather observers across the nation this year. McCravy served as the cooperative weather observer for the Bessemer area until 1969 when he and his wife moved to Hanceville. In the early 1970s, he established a weather observation station at his Hanceville home and has been collecting weather data for NWS ever since. J.B. helped set Mr. McCravy up in the NWS cooperative program over 40 years ago, and shared a few words at the ceremony.

These cooperative observers have to keep very detailed data, and often they have a hard time getting away from home due to their duties. It is often a thankless job, so it was great seeing Mr. McCravy getting this honor. Here at ABC 33/40 we have a large team of volunteer weather watchers across the state; it was good seeing one of them, Alston Keith, getting a little publicity on our 6:00 news last night.

After the Cullman ceremony it was up the street to the All Steak restaurant for lunch. I have never had a bad meal at that place over the years, and the food is just as good at their new location in downtown Cullman. Good to see director Phyllis Little and Kelly Allen of the Cullman EMA, who joined us for lunch. Due to a confidential agreement made at the lunch table, I am not allowed here to tell you who ordered milk shakes, and how many were ordered!

So long to severe weather for 2004. Our next tornado warning should come in 2005. Quite frankly I am a little tired of these dawn severe weather events!

Afternoon video update is on the server:

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

For those of you on a dial-up, do a right click on the link to James Spann's video update, and chose "save target as...". Then pick where you want the file on your hard drive. It will take some time on a dial-up, however.

By the way, try Firefox, the browser from Mozilla. This is an open-source, free browser that doesn't have the security issues found with Internet Explorer. Get the free download here: http://getfirefox.com/

Cold is the word for the latter half of December. This weekend will be cold. Next week will be colder. And, the coldest air will probably come around Christmas time.

On Saturday we should stay in the 30s and 40s all day.

Next Tuesday, I don't think we will reach 40. By Wednesday morning, lows in the 20 to 25 degree range should be common.

Jury is still out on the snow/ice threat in the December 18-20 time frame.

And, check out that 1058 mb high over western Canada on the afternoon video update (shows up around Christmas). Memories of December 1983 and 1989!

Just finished long form tornado coverage for west Alabama counties...

Morning video is on the server now:

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

Not much time for discussion this morning... check out the video.

Very cold next week; record cold by Christmas?

Some risk of wintry weather in the December 17-19 time frame, and maybe another one before Christmas. See the video for details..

Have to get back to radar duty...