New Records Galore

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below, and on iTunes…

What an interesting weather day… everyone is talking about it from coast to coast; much of the U.S. is in the midst of a crippling ice storm, while here in the southeast part of the nation we are enjoying record warmth.

At 2:00 p.m… Birmingham is reporting 78 degrees, easily beating the old record high for December 10 of 73 degrees, set in 1972. Montgomery and Evergreen have soared to 81 degrees and are the warmest spots in the state.

We stay warm through Wednesday with a mix of sun and clouds and afternoon temperatures well into the 70s. More records are very possible.

COLD NOT TOO FAR AWAY: While Birmingham is reporting 78 at 2:00, Memphis is at 50, and Little Rock reports 47 (31 degrees colder than Birmingham). The icing problems begin in Oklahoma, where Tulsa is at 32 degrees with freezing drizzle at 2:00.

NASTY ICE STORM: Much of the nation is on ice in the general area from Wichita Falls, Texas to Chicago. Watch the Weather Xtreme video for all the graphics, and scroll down for some pictures from Oklahoma taken this morning. At least 13 deaths have been blamed on the storm, and power outages are becoming more widespread by the minute. Some folks will be out of power for over one week, and travel is just about impossible in many areas. Trust me, you would rather be in our warm zone that in this big mess.

OUR NEXT RAIN: The big storm over the Southwest U.S. will finally weaken and eject out to the northeast at mid-week, and it still looks like the best chance of showers along the trailing front will come Thursday afternoon and Thursday night. I still believe this won’t be a big rain event, with amounts of one-quarter of an inch expected.

COLD AIR MOVES INTO ALABAMA after the showers Thursday night. I believe the GFS MOS numbers are too warm (the GFS is showing a high of 55 for Friday, 50 on Saturday, and 52 on Sunday. With the cold air being shallow, and coming over the ice and snow pack just north of here, I figure we probably won’t make it out of the 40s Friday through Sunday.

Some overrunning is possible at some point over the weekend, but for now the GFS is suggesting showers will be confined to the far southern part Alabama Friday through Sunday; it looks generally dry up this way despite some cloudy periods.

INTO VOODOO LAND: The GFS shows rain events here on December 19 and December 24. That Christmas eve storm would be a major snow event for Dallas/Fort Worth, but this will probably all be gone on the next run. This is a tough pattern for humans and computers…. not much confidence in anything beyond seven days.

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 have this week’s show posted by 10:00 tonight…. we record at 8:30.

WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page. This is a great way to find the latest weather-related news stories. Some very interesting reading over there as always.

I enjoyed my visit to see the fourth graders at Hamilton Elementary today… be looking for them on the KIDCAM today at 5:00 on ABC 33/40 News. Look for the next Weather Xtreme video by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…

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