I saw a report last night that a New York man had blown off his arm shooting party fireworks Saturday night. Another too oft reported story. To help you celebrate safely this Fourth of July if you must shoot fireworks, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Council on Fireworks Safety offer the following [...]

It’s a sad story that is oft repeated unfortunately. A Pelham woman drowned on Friday while trying to rescue a young child that was struggling in the surf at Orange Beach. The child drowned as well. Here are some rip current safety rules from the National Weather Service. When at the beach: * Whenever possible, [...]

Yep, I am afraid of lightning! I have had three close calls in my lifetime, including one with James Spann as we stepped out the back door of Channel 6 after midnight the night Hurricane Opal came ashore. Huge bolt of lightning struck the TV station sign that overlooks the city. We were only a [...]

This is Lightning Safety Awareness Week and check out today’s story below by Jim Stefkovich, Meteorologist in Charge of NWS/Birmingham. I have had three close calls with lightning in my lifetime, so until this day, lightning is my most feared of all weather-related events! –JBE ————————————————————————————– PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 421 [...]

Lightning: What You Need to Know (From the National Weather Service) • NO PLACE outside is safe when thunderstorms are in the area!! • If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike you. • When you hear thunder, immediately move to safe shelter. • Safe shelter is a substantial building or inside an [...]

On this date in 2001, five people drowned and dozens had to be rescued from rough Gulf of Mexico waters during a two day period of rip currents along the Northwest Florida coast. The powerful channels of outflowing water were caused by strong onshore winds that resulted from the combined effects of strong high pressure [...]

BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 302 AM CST FRI MAR 12 2010 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR… EASTERN MARION COUNTY IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA… THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF WINFIELD… NORTHWESTERN FAYETTE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA… THIS INCLUDES [...]

We have tried to hit this pretty hard on the blog, radio, and TV in recent days, but I have been flooded with e-mail from people asking about the NOAA Weather Radio and outdoor sirens going off within the past 15 minutes… this is the day of the annual tornado drill. See this from the [...]

My wife and I are real estate Agents here in Shelby Co. and had an incident happen today that reminds of the problems you can get hit with in the current cold wave if you’re not careful. We were having lunch when I get a call from a lady living near a home we have [...]

Our guest on WeatherBrains Monday night will be a timely one. Dr. Thomas Schmidlin from Kent State University will talk about his thought provoking paper on tornadoes and automobiles. Several months ago, the American Red Cross followed Dr. Schmidlin’s line of thinking and broke rank with traditional NWS safety rules. They changed their advice to [...]