Archive for October 21st, 2011
Cheaha Leaf Watch
Tim Miller of Odenville took this photo
From Tammy Power, who runs the lodge at Mt. Cheaha:
If your viewers drive from Munford or Hwy 21 side that is where more of the color is at this time. Something many people do not know but after 30 years I have found.
We have the following information:
Canopy color:
This is the color from the side with the trees on the side of the road and inside the national forest. Giving you an inside top and side cover more like your inside a tunnel. The color change starts at the bottom of the mountain and slowly goes to the top. So as you travel up it will be more green than at the bottom. This is still really pretty and in away to me God’s way of giving us more than one way to see the season. I think this is my favorite.
Top color:
This is the view you get from I 20, Hwy 49 and 281 where there is more view for you to look over the valley…. Then when you get to Cheaha State Park you see the top of the trees and this is the Peak of the season when this changes. What your web cam should get…. So I guess you can say when the color gets to the tip top of the trees.
I started noticing this years ago that we have color change from the second week of Oct. and most of November if the season is not really dry .. Mother nature is doing a fantastic job this year.
Thanks Tammy!
Another Cold Night Ahead For Alabama
An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.
THIS AFTERNOON: The sky across Alabama is cloudless this afternoon, with temperatures generally in the 60-65 degree range. Dewpoints are very low; the dew point at Birmingham is 31, meaning another cold night is ahead. With a clear sky and a light wind, the colder spots should hit the freezing mark, with mid to upper 30s elsewhere with more frost likely.
WEEKEND WARM-UP: A slow warm-up is the story for the weekend; with a sunny sky we reach the upper 60s tomorrow and low 70s Sunday.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: For high school games across the state tonight, you will need a jacket.. The sky will be clear with temperatures falling through the 50s. Some stadiums will be in the 40s by the second half tonight.
Tomorrow, Alabama hosts the Tennessee Volunteers at Bryant-Denny Stadium with a 6:15 p.m. CDT kickoff. The sky will be clear, with temperatures falling from near 64 at kickoff into the low to mid 50s by the fourth quarter. Auburn is on the road; the Tigers will take on LSU in Baton Rouge at 2:30 p.m. CDT. The sky will be bright and sunny with 75 degrees at kickoff, then falling into the 60s by the final whistle.
RACE WEEKEND: Picture perfect weather for the races at Talladega this weekend; the sky will be sunny today, tomorrow and Sunday with low humidity levels. The high at the Superspeedway today will be around 63, followed by 67 tomorrow and 72 Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: Dry and pleasant weather continues Monday and Tuesday, but a complex storm system will bring a chance of showers and storms to our state by Wednesday night and Thursday. Model guidance on the specifics has been all over the board, so confidence in details is very low, and too early to determine if severe weather will be an issue. Colder and drier air arrives by Friday of next week.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40.
CONNECT: You can find me on all of the major social networks…
What a great week… congratulations to all of the NWA 2011 planning committee, and a special thanks to all of the many volunteers, many of them part of the blog family here, who volunteered long hours to make sure the greatest weather brains in the world enjoyed their stay in Birmingham. Brian Peters will have the video updates tomorrow and Sunday… my next one will be posted early Monday morning. Enjoy the weekend!
Weather By The Numbers 10/21/11
This is a mixed bag of weather notes. Have not done one of these in a long time. Later (not today) I want to write a JB Journal story about the time that I included 11 words in special weather story that quickly got me in hot water!
* 242 is the average number of days each year that Mount Washington, New Hampshire experiences below freezing temperatures.
* 96.1 was the average high temperature at Birmingham for the month of September, 1925. Only three days had highs under 90! It was during this record heat wave that Centreville, in Central Alabama, recorded Alabama’s all time high of 112.
* 12 is how many Billion Dollar disasters has occurred in the USA this year according to press reports. This, of course, includes tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, river flooding, flash flooding and wild fires.
* 8 is how many million acres have burned over this year in the USA, I learned that during a presentation by a NOAA/NWS official at the NWA conference here in Birmingham. Some of the most affected states (but not all) included Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
* 398 is how many days that Stanley, Idaho has reported the lowest temperature in the Lower 48 states. Stanley is nestled in the Sawtooth Mountains in Central Idaho.
* 21 inches of snow was on the ground in Rogers County, Oklahoma on February 1 last winter. It will be interesting to see if there are as many blizzards and high snow events in the upcoming winter. Much of the Northern USA really suffered last winter including a lot of the NE part of the country where snow removal budgets were wiped out early.
* 27 was the lowest temperature in Alabama that I could find this morning. There was frost over a wide area. Here is a list of our first real chill:
27 Hamilton
29 Russellville Airport, Hanceville, Black Creek (see earlier blog post) Sardis Springs, Addison,
30 Pinson, Centreville, Heflin, Rockford
31 Anniston, Troy, Cullman Airport, Owens Crossroads, Sylacauga, Dearmanville
32 Valley Head, Meridianville, Moulton, Gaylesville
33 Decatur, Evergreen, Tuscaloosa, Centre, Scottsboro Airport
34 Calera, Muscle Shoals, Fort Payne, New Market, Childesburg, Ellisville
35 Huntsville, Montgomery,, Crossville, Courtland
36 Birmingham Airport, Albertville
37 Dothan, Mobile, Guntersville, Blue Pond, Cordova
38 Selma
39 Auburn
USA EXTREMES
97 high yesterday, Chandler, Ariz.
16 lowest this morning, Hibbing, Minn.
-6 coldest in Alaska at Anaktuvuk Pass
..
Frosty Morning
Thanks to Vic Bell for this image… He writes…
“Low: 29 with heavy frost. My first freeze and third frost of the season. First frost was end of September.”
Fine Fall Weekend
An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.
COLDEST MORNING SO FAR: Here are some 5:00 a.m. temperatures across the great state of Alabama….
Russellville 30
Black Creek (northeast of Gadsden) 30
Gadsden 32
Anniston 33
Cullman 32
Fort Payne 34
Valley Head 34
Fayette 34
Tuscaloosa 35
Bessemer 35
Birmingham Airport 38
SLOW WARM-UP: With a sunny sky today, we rise into the mid 60s. The weekend looks delightful as sunny weather continues; the high tomorrow will be in the upper 60s, followed by low 70s Sunday. Mornings stay cold, however, and many places will go back into the 30s early tomorrow.
FOOTBALL WEATHER: For high school games across the state tonight, you will need a jacket.. The sky will be clear with temperatures falling through the 50s. Some stadiums will be in the 40s by the second half tonight.
Tomorrow, Alabama hosts the Tennessee Volunteers at Bryant-Denny Stadium with a 6:15 p.m. CDT kickoff. The sky will be clear, with temperatures falling from near 64 at kickoff into the low to mid 50s by the fourth quarter. Auburn is on the road; the Tigers will take on LSU in Baton Rouge at 2:30 p.m. CDT. The sky will be bright and sunny with 75 degrees at kickoff, then falling into the 60s by the final whistle.
RACE WEEKEND: Picture perfect weather for the races at Talladega this weekend; the sky will be sunny today, tomorrow and Sunday with low humidity levels. The high at the Superspeedway today will be around 63, followed by 67 tomorrow and 72 Sunday.
NEXT WEEK: We stay dry Monday and Tuesday, but a powerful trough will bring a round of showers and storms late Wednesday night into Thursday. Not a classic severe weather set-up, but something we will have to watch in coming days. Drier and colder air moves in on Friday. See the Weather Xtreme video for details on long range ideas.
TROPICS: All remains quiet across the vast Atlantic basin this morning.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40.
CONNECT: You can find me on all of the major social networks…
This is the last day I will be at the Wynfrey as our big meeting of weather minds winds down. The GOES Users Conference wraps up later today, and I will be on a panel discussion this morning with my pal Dan Satterfield of WHNT-TV in Huntsville. Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 or so this afternoon… enjoy the day!
