Chilly May Mornings

An all new 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.

Scroll down for Bill Murray’s opinion on the tornado warning issue… Bill and I will have to disagree on this one; I believe the false alarm ratio is too high, and issuing multiple tornado warnings trying to catch small spin-ups is not the best idea. I know most of us in the TV business feel like this, most likely because we are the target of the outrage and anger when warnings are issued that are not verified. The “cry wolf” syndrome is very real and a serious issue here now. Those that are not in our shoes tend to be in a walled garden; you step out of that and become a public figure and you can get a pretty good feel for public reaction to the warning process. Weather geeks tend to live in a world of their own, and don’t have a good grasp for what Joe Q. Public feels and needs.

I do not believe there are more tornadoes today compared to 1950 or 1930; we simply have more reported tornadoes thanks to modern technology, spotters, cameras, etc. The small spin-up EF0s have always been around; we just didn’t know about most of them.

I simply think there is way too much hyperbole during severe weather events around here. We need to get that FAR under 70…. any number over 80 is way too high, in my opinion. I do appreciate the fact a healthy debate is underway. We will all work toward a good solution.

CLOSE TO A RECORD: Checking in on our Skywatcher chat session, Vic Bell in the hamlet of Scrougeout, which is in Etowah County northeast of Gadsden, basically in a bowl atop Lookout Mountain, reports 42 degrees this morning. Birmingham’s low so far is 46, which is within two degrees of the record low of 44 set back in 1973. There is still time for us to get down to that level; J.B. will post a long list of morning lows later today.

We will be very close to the record low tomorrow morning as well… the record low for May 19 is 44 set in 1973; we will be well down in the 40s at daybreak tomorrow; some of the colder valleys across North Alabama should wind up in the upper 30s. It simply doesn’t get that cold around here this often in mid-May.

DRY THROUGH WEDNESDAY: Dry weather is the story through Wednesday with the cool nights and lower humidity levels continuing. The high today will be in the low 70s, followed by mid 70s tomorrow, and upper 70s on Wednesday.

LATER THIS WEEK: The southern part of the upper trough will evolve into a broad upper low around the Florida peninsula, and a surface low will be reflected over the northeast Gulf late in the week. This will bring in moisture into Alabama from the east and south, and rain will follow. The 00Z GFS really keeps North Alabama dry on Thursday, but we will bring in a chance of showers on Friday, and unfortunately at this point the weekend looks pretty wet with periods of rain likely Saturday and Sunday. The low in the Gulf, most likely, won’t be a classic tropical-type system, but those features sure can be good rain producers for the Southeast U.S. this time of the year. Bottom line is that the weekend looks pretty wet at this point.

VOODOO LAND: Watch the Weather Xtreme video and you will see the 00Z GFS develops a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico around June 2, but we all know that is nothing but voodoo. But, the hurricane season does begin June 1, so we will have to pay close attention to develops down there.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 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. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left. We will record this week’s episode tomorrow night.

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Today I will be speaking to the Greater Birmingham Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction… look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 3:30 this afternoon,. Enjoy the day!

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