Archive for April 8th, 2012
Anchorage Establishes New Seasonal Snowfall Mark
Friend of the blog Kerry Colburn, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Alaska wrote in Saturday to report that Anchorage has surpassed a 57 year old record for snowfall in one season.
He reports, “The old record of 132.6 inches occurred in 1954-1955. But with a total of 133.6 inches as of (4 pm Saturday), the winter of 2011-2012 is now the snowiest winter on record in Anchorage.”
He went on to say, “The city lacked 2.5″ going into Easter weekend. Snow began falling Friday morning with 0.8″ accumulating. A couple additional inches fell overnight Friday and throughout the day Saturday. Records have been kept at or very near the current location near the Ted Stevens International Airport since 1953.”
Many roofs collapsed this season in the city.
Perfect Holiday Sunday
A gorgeous holiday Sunday is in progress across Central Alabama with a good supply of sunshine and just a few patchy mid-level clouds associated with a cold front that is crossing the area. Temperatures are in the middle and upper 70s in many spots thanks to all the insolation. (That’s our new word of the week!) Some folks will touch 80F this afternoon.
COOLER WEATHER AHEAD: The first cold front in a succession of them had passed the I-59 corridor by the noon hour. It will push out of Alabama by this evening.
You won’t notice much difference behind this first one. In fact, tonight’s low will look a lot like last night’s around 50F. Tomorrow’s high should be a few degrees cooler however, but still nearly perfect, topping out around 76F. A stronger cold front will arrive late tomorrow, accompanied by breezy northwest winds, but little else in the way of sensible weather. Lows tomorrow night will be a tad cooler, in the upper 40s.
You will really tell the difference Tuesday through Thursday, as highs will only be in the lower 70s at best. In fact, Wednesday highs may not get out of the 60s in spots. Overnight lows will be in the lower 40s on average Wednesday and Thursday mornings with 30s in a few of the normally colder valleys north of I-20, especially over East Alabama.
On This Date 14 Years Ago
A horrible EF-5 tornado kills 32 in Jefferson County. Places like Oak Grove, Rock Creek, Sylvan Springs, McDonald Chapel, and Pratt City were hit hard. The same parent storm dropped a smaller tornado east of Birmingham that killed 2 more in St. Clair County north of Pell City. See Bill Castle’s video below…
Gorgeous Easter Sunday
The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme Video on iTunes by clicking here.
It’s going to be a gorgeous Easter Sunday though we may see a few clouds in the sky. Probably not enough to keep highs from reaching the mid and upper 70s. And it looks like we are going to stay dry for the next week but there are some model differences around Friday and Saturday.
A weak and dry cold front will be moving through the area. That will bring a fresh northerly flow to the area and help to keep temperatures from climbing too much on Monday as highs dip back slightly into the mid 70s. Another weak and dry front follows that one on Tuesday, but the major player is the development of a deep trough over the eastern half of the country. This will bring a nice shot of cold air into the eastern half of the country. Wednesday is likely to be the coolest day with highs 65 to 70 while Thursday morning will probably be the coldest morning as we see the atmosphere go calm with good radiational cooling and the potential for some patchy frost. Even Wednesday morning with lows dipping down to near 40 we could see some patchy frost that morning, too.
But the warm up begins Thursday and extends into the weekend. An upper ridge comes over us and the GFS is suggesting it will be strong enough to hold off a deep trough over the southern Rockies. There are some model differences with the ECMWF. Like yesterday, the ECMWF develops precipitation for Friday and Saturday across the northern half of Alabama. Even the ECMWFs own upper progs continue to show a ridge, though the ridge is just not as strong as the GFSs ridge. I continue to think the GFS may have a better handle on this situation because I just don’t see the forcing for the precipitation the ECMWF is coming up with. So for now, and partially because it is so far out, I am keeping the forecast for next weekend dry.
SPC continues to monitor a severe weather threat that remains to our west with a slight risk for much of the next week focused in Texas and Oklahoma.
Looking well out into voodoo country, the GFS shows a glancing blow for a trough on the 18th that could produce some rain. A substantial trough on the 21st could be responsible for some severe weather. And that evolves into a chilly look once again around the 23rd with a fairly deep trough over the eastern US with a nice fetch coming from northwestern Canada into the Southeast US. But this is all voodoo. One nice note is that the coolish look continues to show up on the GFS.
Don’t forget to listen to our weekly 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. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left.
And you can follow news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. Stay in the know by following the whole gang – here’s the list…
| James Spann | Jason Simpson | Ashley Brand |
| J. B. Elliott | Bill Murray | Brian Peters |
| Dr. Tim Coleman | E-Warn (AL wx watches/warnings) |
I hope you have a great Easter Sunday. James Spann should be back with the next edition of the Weather Xtreme Video first thing Monday morning. Godspeed.
-Brian-
For your meteorological consulting needs, Coleman, Knupp, and Peters, LLC, can provide you with accurate, detailed information on past storms, lightning, flooding, and wind damage. Whether it is an insurance claim needing validation or a court case where weather was a factor, we can furnish you with information you need. Please call us at (205) 568-4401.
