Hello 70!

January 21, 2005, 3:30 pm
Posted by James Spann in Weather Discussions
Rating: 0/5   Votes : 0
Wow... second day in a row temperatures are warmer than forecast. Again today, nobody complaining.

The afternoon video update is on the server:

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

No real change in our weekend package. A few showers tomorrow, maybe even a brief thundrstorm in spots. Much colder air rolls in here late tomorrow afternoon with a very narrow window for a new flurries, mainly over northeast Alabama, tomorrow night and during the pre-dawn hours Sunday morning.

I am hearing from more and more people proclaiming that we are not getting as much snow as we did when they were growing up. That leads into ideas of climate change, global warming, etc.

I need to remind you that there have been only 13 times since weather records started here when it snowed four inches or more in Birmingham. Those weather records go back to 1880!

That means we get a four inch or greater snow ONLY once every 9.6 years on average!

We simply live in a low latitude state and it does not snow much. Sure, we can get a "big one" every few years, but you are in the wrong place if you are a snow fan. I will write a longer post on this early next week and show some statistics to jog memories...

Have a nice weekend.

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Posted by  
on January 21, 2005, 3:49 pm
Hey James I know that we got more snow back in the 80's than we do now. And one other thing every time you say we won't see the 60's or 70's for a while it will do it everytime.

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Posted by Ryne  
on January 21, 2005, 5:11 pm
Hey Michael why don't you go to college and get you a degree in Meteorology so you can predict the weather. I'm sure James is doing the best he can.

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Posted by  
on January 21, 2005, 8:55 pm
Michael, I've conducted a lot of research into past southern winter storms, and one thing I've noticed....the major snowstorms tend to occur in clusters. Here in metro Atlanta, one such cluster occurred between 1979 and 1988...when five (5) major snow/sleet storms occurred at my home west of Atlanta...five snow/ice events with 4" accumilation or more within a 10 year period.

Do you know how many 4"+ inch snowfalls have occurred here in the 1989-2005 period? ONLY three (3)...in Jan 1992, Mar 1993, and Jan 2002 during the past 17 years. Atlanta averages a 4" snow event once every 4 yrs on average, but the intervals can vary depending on which decade you look at. The 1886-1899 period was also a period of numerous heavy snowstorms in Atlanta....as was the 1935-1942 period. After March 1942, the next time Atlanta experienced a 4" snowfall? 1960...18 long years later.

Please bear in mind metro Atlanta sits 1000-1200' feet above sea level, and recieves more snow and ice than adjacent areas of northern Alabama, most of which is below 700' elevation....but even here at my location (elevation 1106' msl), a major snowfall doesn't occur very often.

Also, if you don't agree with James forecasts, create your own and post them at Talkweather; let's see how accurate you are my friend. I know from experience....forecasting the weather accurately is far more difficult than it appears.

PW





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Posted by  
on January 21, 2005, 10:41 pm
Hey Ryne I know that James is a very good weather man. I wasn't trying to say anything bad about James all that I said was every time he says we are not going to see the 60's are 70's for a while it will happen. Just like today my high was 70.0. And as for James Spann I think he is the BEST around. And when the weather is real bad I will watch James. And as far as the snow I lived here in Alabama all my life and I remember one January where we got 8 inches of snow. And the next year we got it again. I can think back to last June 1 my high was 77 low 60 June 2 high was 79 low 63 what did James say well we wont see any cool days till around Sep and what happened. Don't get me wrong I think the world of James and the 3340 weather crew I just think it is a little funny. I think when he says something like that GOD is saying ok I will show you again I'm NOT putting James down for nothing so don't think that I am because I'm NOT I love to watch him. Just like that lady that sent him that nasty E-mail about being on TV during her SOAPS I took up for him just like a lot of people did on this blog.

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Posted by  
on January 22, 2005, 9:12 am
I would be happy with a snow even under four inches! I can remember that growing up through the 80's and 90's we would usually always have at least one good winter weather event be it ice or snow even if it was only about and inch or two. I dont think where I live here in birmingham that I have had more than 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground in over 5 years or ice. I cant remember a snow more than 4 inches that covered the roads since the Winter Storm of 93. Maybe of burst of winter weather will come back around soon.

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