Severe Weather Threat Growing

The Wednesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

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

A busy discussion today...

RIGHT NOW: Check out the rain on radar over Mississippi. No rain will impact Alabama... dewpoints are very low and no moisture means no rain at the surface. High clouds will continues to cover the state at times tonight.

TOMORROW: A major severe weather outbreak is possible across the nation's mid-section. SPC has a moderate risk of severe weather for places like Tulsa, Little Rock, Kansas City, and Omaha. Tornadoes will be possible in this region, and an upgrade to a high risk outlook is possible tomorrow morning. Around here, the weather should remain quiet.

FRIDAY: The storm system will split; one part headed northeast, but the other part hangs back over Arkansas and Oklahoma. This upper wave will strengthen and move across Alabama Friday night. In response, a deepening surface low move roughly along I-40 late Friday and Friday night from Little Rock to Nashville and Knoxville.

With good upper support and strong wind fields, conditions seem to favor an outbreak of severe thunderstorms across Alabama Friday night. Looks like the best chance of severe storms will come from about 6:00 p.m. Friday until 6:00 a.m. Saturday.

Check out these severe weather parameters from the NAM, valid Friday evening:

Surface based CAPE: 1744
Lifted index: -5.0
0 to 3 km helicity: 243
SWEAT Index: 451
850 mb wind speed: 47 knots

Needless to say, we will be watching developments over the nation's mid-section tomorrow with great interest.

THE WEEKEND: The rain and storms should end early in the day Saturday. The clearing will be slow for the northeast part of the state; places like Gadsden and Fort Payne could stay overcast all day. Otherwise, we will forecast a clearing sky during the day Saturday. Temperatures will be cooler; we should be in the 60s all day. Sunday looks very nice with a good supply of sunshine and highs in the low to mid 70s.

NEXT WEEK: A wave passes north of the state on Wednesday, and a shower or brief storm will be possible. Otherwise, the weather next week generally looks benign.

BLOG: Looks like Internet Explorer users were getting lots of "white space" here this morning; the Firefox browser renders the page correctly. I am not trying to be a pitch-man for Firefox, but the browser is secure, stable, and handles web pages correctly, according to web standards. And, I don't know how anyone can live without tabbed browsing. I know some Internet Explorer users who have many browser windows open; with Firefox you only have one window open with multiple tabs. You can even open multiple tabs all at once. And, Firefox has RSS support. Try it:

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Firefox is free. Their Thunderbird e-mail client also is the best.

Sure enjoyed the visit to Avondale Elementary in Birmingham today... look for those kids on the KIDCAM today on ABC 33/40 News at 5:00!

The next map discussion video will be on the server by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow...
Posted by Jeremy  
on April 5, 2006, 3:40 pm
As someone who uses Firefox everyday, I agree whole-heartedly.

If you don't use it yet, do yourself a favor and try it! You'll never go back to Internet Explorer.

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Posted by DAWN  
on April 5, 2006, 3:45 pm
Noaa seems really concerned about the weather here in alabama friday evening/night. I was just wondering what james and the other guys take on it is. Do you think it will be as bad as they say? God Bless

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Posted by   www
on April 5, 2006, 3:52 pm
I just downloaded firefox. not sure i like it tho. is there a way i can get my MSN home page back on it??

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Posted by   www
on April 5, 2006, 4:18 pm
I tried Firefox about 8 months ago because James liked it so much. After it lost my favorites 3 times in 6 days, I went back to IE. I also had a few other problems. I may try Firefox again.

Anyone using Firefox and would like to comment to me, please click on my address link above, so we don't clutter this form.

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Posted by   www
on April 5, 2006, 4:32 pm
Stephanie,

1) go to the tools tab at the top of the screen
2) Click options
3) Click General
4) Type home page

FYI...I have been using firefox since I have moved here from Kansas about two years ago. Let me say that the tabbed browsing is VERY great. There is also a built in pop-up blocker included in the firefox software.


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Posted by Mark Parker  
on April 5, 2006, 4:47 pm
After losing bookmarks several times as well ...I switched to Opera...It's free, extremely user friendly and reliable...i recommend it over Firefox

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Posted by Mark Parker  
on April 5, 2006, 4:51 pm
After losing bookmarks several times and other tech. difficulties ...I switched to Opera...It's free, extremely user friendly and reliable...i recommend it over Firefox

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Posted by Greg  
on April 5, 2006, 5:29 pm
Just a recommendation, I downloaded the beta version of Internet Explorer 7 its just like firefox with tabbing windows, etc.....everyone should try it at least....I have no problems with the space at the top of the blog with it.

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Posted by   www
on April 5, 2006, 7:40 pm
I too loved Firefox but I don't seem to be able to play many of the games on the Yahoo Games page, so when I had to reinstall everything I kept IE. If there's a remedy to be able to play the games let me know and I'll switch back...never heard of Opera..details please.

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