Prime Time Thoughts

April 6, 2005, 6:52 pm

Posted by James Spann in Weather Discussions
Rating: 3/5 Votes : 1

Thanks to Bill Murray for handling the Thursday morning forecast package... I actually have a few moments to collect my thoughts here...

That rogue storm that showed strong signs of rotation through Greene, Hale, and southeast Tuscaloosa counties was a little surprise, but otherwise the day has pretty turned out as expected. We simply could not get the higher dewpoints in here... and this large mass of rain tonight is keeping the air nice and stable; I really don't expect many more severe weather reports tonight.

Flooding remains a concern... rain totals around our weathernet include:

Hamilton 2.18
Tuscaloosa 1.24
Cullman 1.07
Clanton 0.62"
Riverchase 0.41"

Winds have been strong today down in Chilton county; the weathernet site at the Peach water tower recorded a peak wind gust of 41 mph. Even had a few reports of trees down due to these non-thunderstorm winds.

Some observations before I begin working on the long morning radio feed:

*There is no doubt the hate mail is increasing when we go on the air with tornado coverage. Got some dandy messages today from people not very happy. We really do live in a world of constant negativity. If I get to be a negative, cranky old geezer, just take me out and bury me.

*Jason Simpson is a great addition to our weather operation. A real team player, excellent knowledge of the science, and can communicate very clearly. It was great having him with us today during the west Alabama tornado warnings.

*Congrats to the Mercedes facility in Vance... they got 3,500 employees into a safe place today as the rotation passed right over the plant. I wish all Alabama industries are that prepared!

Late report from the NWS Birmingham:

Dallas County EMA has several reports of trees down...trees on powerlines...and trees across roads in and near Selma.

And, from the NWS Jackson:

nwsjanco (7:25:46 PM): I wanted to give everyone a heads up about survey plans for tomorrow...
nwsjanco (7:25:58 PM): We will have 3 survey teams going out early tomorrow
nwsjanco (7:26:12 PM): Team 1 will go to Rankin, Scott and Leake counties
nwsjanco (7:26:26 PM): Team 2 will go to Simpson, Smith, Covington and Jefferson Davis Counties
nwsjanco (7:26:44 PM): Team 3 will go to Copiah, Lincoln, Lawrence and Franklin Counties
nwsjanco (7:27:39 PM): It is unclear whether all damage will be able to be assessed in one day. I would make the assumption that it may take longer than one day to complete these surveys.

These guys have a very busy day tomorrow. What an outbreak over Mississippi today....

Gotta begin work on radio!

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 7:01 pm

I hate that you get so much negative feedback over the weather. I appreciate the wonderful job you do. I credit you for the sufficent warning we
had in the December 2000 tornado. Your early warning gave my family time to be prepared and our lives to be spared. If some of the negative viewers were more closely touched be such weather events their thinking may change a bit.

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 7:09 pm

I agree with Denise and all the others that have emailed to encourage you guys and say a word of thanks for the WONDERFUL public service you do for our community. God bless you, James and crew! Central Alabama is a better place to live because of your hard work.

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 7:12 pm

I also want to say thanks to all of you at ABC. Do you think that it would be okay to go home now(mobile home). I live in Tusc or should I stay since we are still under the Tornado Watch?

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Posted by Dano
on April 6, 2005, 7:17 pm

You guys do a great job!! I appreciate all your hard work.

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 7:34 pm

Hey james, very pleased on the wonderful job you and the abc 33/40 weather team did earlier this afternoon tracking the TVS across parts of greene, hale, and tuscaloosa counties. Had to make some decisions of my own today regarding extracurricular activities at school, and even had teachers leave school thirty minutes earlier than they usually do after school based on where they were left. Just hope I don`t get chewed out by students tomorrow at school, thay can get pretty mean. Have a great night.

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Posted by Tiffany
on April 6, 2005, 7:47 pm

I am so sorry that you all receive negative comments. I just want to say thank you for looking out for all of us and keeping us informed.

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 7:56 pm

We just wanted to say thank you too. We have an eighteen month old daughter and it sure is nice to know that we can depend on abc 33/40 for our weather information. We are thankful when you cut into programing even if it is a favorite show. What you guys do saves lives and that is more important than ANY tv show.

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 8:09 pm

For those who want to watch their soap operas, there is always SoapNet. Besides two other B'ham stations (owned by their networks) do the same thing. So why is 33/40 always getting picked on?

I'll let you guys ponder on that. Anyway, 33/40's "DREAM TEAM" does a great job. I did notice though that the reflectivity on the Pinpoint radar wasn't as strong as on the NEXRAD. Has it always been this way?

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Posted by
on April 6, 2005, 8:46 pm

Hey James don't worry about the boneheads out there that get mad because they can't watch there tv shows. Servere weather comes before soaps, so for all of the ones that get mad when James goes on the air to cover a tornado GROW UP!!!!!!!

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Posted by
on April 7, 2005, 12:02 am

C'mon . .. tornadoes are worth covering. If we lived in a part of the world where volcanoes were prevalent, wouldn't people want their shows interrupted by updates on when the volcano might erupt? Same principle. It's a wonderful privilege, having such a great weather team around here. Not everywhere has that. I've talked to people who have moved here from several different places, and they say the weather coverage is so much better here. So kudos to the Spann man, to the Peters man, the Old Shoe :P , and Bart . .. I mean, Jason, Simpson. No kidding, you guys perform a wonderful public service. It's sad that some people can't appreciate it. And it's not like you're interrupting programming just for a blustery thunderstorm or two, we're talking tornadoes ... those things that can blow your house to smithereens in about a second. Ah well, you guys certainly get my vote and my encouragement to keep up the good work.

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Posted by www
on July 16, 2005, 5:18 am