Happy New Year!

*** No Weather Xtreme Video this morning ***

Greetings from the Big Easy, site of one of the semifinal games in the inaugural College Football Playoff. Brian has Pasadena covered and I will cover New Orleans, one of America’s gem cities. And I will get to share a morning discussion with you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Are you enjoying some traditional New Year’s Day lucky food? Spaniards ate 12 grapes last night for each stroke of midnight. Maybe you’re having greens, symbolizing folded money. Or black-eyed peas, representing coins. I hope that you and your family have a prosperous 2015!

FOOTBALL CAST: It is one of my favorite days, watching college football. And our two state SEC teams are in the thick of the New Years Day action. Auburn is in Tampa for a date with Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl.

Auburn fans will have gorgeous weather today, with lots of sunshine and highs in the 70s. Can’t beat that.

‘Bama fans will encounter cloudy skies today with showers starting to bubble around game time. Luckily the game is indoors, but tailgating, and walks to and from the Superome could be a little damp. I think the really heavy rain holds off until after the game. Revelers in the Quarter late tomorrow wright may get wet. It is chilly by New Orleans standards, with temperatures today in the 50s and there the mercury will stay overnight tonight. Temperatures tomorrow will be in the upper 60s.

FROST ON THE PUMPKIN: Brian Peters is waking to a little frost this morning as he prepares to go watch his beloved Florida State Seminoles play in their national semifinal game. Lows there this morning were in the lower and middle 30s. Highs today will not be very California-like, in the upper 50s, more like New Orleans will be today.

RAIN ON THE WAY: Today is a transition day for Central Alabama. Our next weather maker is a huge upper level low that we find over Arizona. That system brought heavy snow to Wickenburg AZ near Phoenix yesterday! Ten inches fell near Flagstaff. Temperatures over the Rockies this morning are running some 15-30 degrees below normal. There is an active southern branch of the Jetstream from Baja California across Texas and then over the Southeast. A low pressure system will develop to our west, and as it does, it will propel a warm front northward. This warm front will produce rain across Central Alabama starting tonight and lasting into Friday. Then a cold front will push our way, bringing more showers and thunderstorms to the state. We will be in the 40s this afternoon but 60s will be common on Saturday. There will be some thunder involved on Saturday, but severe weather should not be a problem. We will be watching. Flooding is not expected to be a problem, but 1 to 3 inches, as expected, could cause problems if it falls quickly enough. The rain will end on Sunday as a cold front passes. Next week should be cool and dry with temperatures around 50F by day and 30s at night.

NEXT RAIN CHANCES: Another system shows up around Saturday, one week from today.

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WEATHERBRAINS: Greg Carbin was this guest on this week’s show. Check out the show at www.WeatherBrains.com. You can also subscribe on iTunes.

ON THIS DATE IN 1916: Rainmaker Charles Hatfield set up his equipment in San Diego, California. It had been bone dry in San Diego for months. Desperate for rain, the City Council had approved his proposal to fill the city’s near empty reservoir for $10,000. The self-proclaimed meteorologist used towers holding barrels of boiling secret chemicals. His claim was that he didn’t make the rain, he attracted the clouds and the rains just came. Soon afterwards, it began to rain in Southern California. Problem was, ot didn’t stop. Flooding resulted and on the 27th a dam on Lake Moreno collapsed, with large loss of life. Many people filed lawsuits against Hatfield, but the suits were dismissed because the event was an Act of God. The city refused to pay hatfield for his services since it was an Act of God. Hatfield’s life would be turned into a play, a novel and eventually Burt Lancaster would play him in the 1956 film The Rainmaker. You can find a statue erected to Hatfield at Lake Moreno. Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am @wxhistorian at Twitter.com.

Category: Alabama's Weather