ABC 33/40 E-Forecast

ABC 33/40 E-FORECAST
Afternoon Edition For Thursday March 22, 2007

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FIRE ALERT FOR PARTS OF ALABAMA: That alert includes 14 counties,
mostly in the SW and west part of the state, but it also includes the
immediate Birmingham area. It is due to the extended dryness, of
course, along with occasional brisk southerly winds. The combination
always causes problems. More than 700 woods fires have occurred since
March 1 and roughly 19,000 acres have been burned.

Not much improvement through the weekend. High temperatures will be
around 80 or slightly higher almost every day. We are still blocked
from getting any rain. While there could be a small risk later
Monday, we do not believe we will have a decent chance until about
Tuesday of next week. Even then, it does not appear to be a
widespread rain event. The weather models have been very accurate so
far. They project the upper low pressure area to be just SW of San
Diego tomorrow, then to NW New Mexico on Saturday and it finally
opens up into a trough from Nebraska to West Texas on Sunday.
Translation—this keeps a high pressure ridge controlling SE weather,
although some moisture will get into our area early next week.

THE SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION: All of the action in the last several
days has been in the Central Plains and Midwest. Yesterday there were
numerous reports of hail from SE Nebraska, across Iowa, into Northern
Illinois and SE Wisconsin. For the next two to three days, any risk
of severe weather should remain well to the west and NW of Alabama,
mainly from West Texas into the Plains. Here in Alabama, both the
Enterprise tornado and the Wilcox County tornado on March 1 have been
reevaluated to an EF4.

THE WORLD OF WEATHER: What a warm up! Yesterday morning it was 14
below zero at Saranac Lake in Upstate New York. The low this morning
was 42. That represents a 56-degree warm up! The coldest in the lower
48 this morning was 17 at Winnemucca, Nevada. Hottest yesterday was
91 at Gage, Oklahoma. In Alaska, it was 36 below this morning at
Deadhorse with the wind chill 56 below. Elevation does make a
difference. Mt. Charleston is an area not too far west of Las Vegas
where the elevation reaches 7,600 feet. It has alpine-type scenery.
Their high yesterday was 46 compared to 71 in Las Vegas more than
5,000 feet lower in elevation.

STORM ALERT SPECIAL: It is scheduled Sunday night between 6:00 and
7:00 p.m. on ABC 33/40. Segments of the Storm Alert 2007 tour will be
shown, as well as stories about the Enterprise tornado. Even my
little mug will be on there helping tell the story of the violent
Smithfield tornado on the NW side of Birmingham in April 1977.

MY TINY CORNER OF THE WORLD: Thomas Kinkade would have loved it.
Wish he could have been with Little Miss Molly and I on our sunrise
walk. We stood under the sassafras tree for a long time while a lone
mockingbird, perched on one of the lower limbs, gave us a free
concert. The music varied from the Wabash Cannonball to opera by
Pavarotti. (A little imagination there.) Even Molly paused and
studied the bird. It was unusually pretty, because the barren
sassafras tree was backlighted by the rising sun, which was also
backlighting a row of cumulus clouds. Made me want to buy a digital
camera. I may advance my switch to digital. On the way back, we
encountered a large brown dog that supposedly threatened a lady.
Little Miss Molly chased it completely out of the neighborhood. She
is brave when she is more than 25 feet away. Life goes on....

J.B. Elliott
jb.elliott@theweathercompany.com

ABC 33/40 7 Day Planner: http://abc3340.com/weather/7day.hrb
ABC 33/40 Weather Blog:

http://www.alabamawx.com
Weather Party: http://www.weatherparty.com

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CHECK OUT THE ABC 33/40 WEATHER BLOG!
http://www.alabamawx.com

One of the most active blogs around! The Weather Blog has been in
existence for nearly three years. We do our best to give fresh
information on our local weather seven days a week. And, of course,
when the weather gets active, blog posts come fast and furious. There
are six primary writers: James Spann, Jason Simpson, Brian Peters,
John Oldshue, Bill Murray and JB Elliott. We welcome your input; we
allow open comments from anyone. Those who comment are like caller to
a radio show; they are part of the family!

http://www.alabamawx.com
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TONIGHT
Fair and mild.
Overnight Low 56
WIND: S 4-6

FRIDAY
Partly sunny and warm.
Morning Low 56 Afternoon 82
WIND: S 6-12

SATURDAY
More sun than clouds. Continued warm.
Morning Low 56 Afternoon High 84
WIND: S 7-14

SUNDAY
Partly sunny.
Morning Low 57 Afternoon High 84
WIND: SW 6-12

MONDAY
Partly sunny.
Morning Low 58 Afternoon High 82
WIND: SW 10-15

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Tonight on ABC 33/40:

6:00pm ABC 33/40 News
6:30pm Wheel of Fortune
7:00pm Ugly Betty
8:00pm Grey's Anatomy
9:00pm October Road
10:00pm ABC 33/40 News
10:35pm Nightline

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