Historic Severe Weather Event Winding Down

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

Watch the video and you can see the SPC storm report graphic from yesterday… 73 tornado reports, 199 severe wind reports, and 112 large hail reports (384 total). The death toll right now is 50, with fatalities from Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Alabama. The death toll here in our state is four; those fatalities were in Lawrence and Jackson counties.

ABC 33/40 meteorologist Brian Peters, who worked as a Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Birmingham for many years, has been dispatched to the Jackson County storm site; he is on a QRT (quick response team) that is called in when tornado damage is considered to be EF4 or EF5. We just heard from the Huntsville NWS office; they will hold a briefing at 3:00 at the Rosalie Community Center in Jackson County to disclose their story survey findings.

Crews from the Birmingham NWS office are also out doing survey work in Lamar, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Pickens, Sumter, and Walker counties. There considerable tornado damage and some injuries across this part of Alabama. We are very thankful that there were no deaths in this part of Alabama (the Birmingham NWS County Warning Area).

Thanks to our partners in the warning process… the National Weather Service and the local Emergency Management offices… it was a long night but the warning process worked well. Warnings were in effect before all tornadoes touched down in Alabama. Also thanks to my associates Jason Simpson, Ashley Brand, Brian Peters, Bill Castle, and everyone else over in news who was with us all night. Those news folks had a long with the Super Tuesday primary, and they really did hang tough.

LOOKING AHEAD: A long period of benign weather is ahead. No rain through the weekend, highs in the 50s tomorrow, low 60s Friday and Saturday, and colder again Sunday with a high around 50. The 12Z GFS is backing off of the rain event late Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, but we won’t change the forecast just yet. Watch the Weather Xtreme video for all of the details.

OTHER NOTES: We are aware that some of you got E-Warn messages late last night and this morning; seems as though some major cell carriers and e-mail providers blacklisted our system as a “spam bot”… we will be working with these providers in coming days to gain access to their white list, and when that happens the messages will be delivered in a timely fashion.

And, if you have damage pictures, please send them to us as an attachment to pictures@abc3340.com.

STORM ALERT 2008: We look forward to seeing you in Anniston Thursday night for Storm Alert 2008… learn more about Alabama weather, see some amazing stories, meet the weather team, and have a chance to win some great prizes. The show will be at 7:00 at the Anniston City Meeting Center on Noble Street; doors open at 5:00. No admission, but get there early for a good seat!

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.

I had a great time speaking to the kids at Riverchase Elementary today (3rd grade)… I probably wasn’t hitting on all cylinders due to the lack of sleep, but the kids were a great audience. Be looking for them on the KIDCAM today on ABC 33/40 News at 5:00. The next Weather Xtreme video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

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