ABC 33/40 E-Forecast

ABC 33/40 E-FORECAST
Morning Edition For Thursday April 19, 2007
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Alabama One Call .... where safe digging starts.

Before beginning any type of excavation work, no matter how large or how
small, be sure to DIG SAFELY and have the underground utilities marked prior
to beginning your work.

Simply call Alabama One Call at 252-4444, 48 hours prior to the start of
your excavation and the member utility companies will send out someone to
mark their facilities free of charge.

Remember - Dig Safely
* Call Before You Dig
* Wait the Required Amount of Time
* Respect the Marks
* Dig with Care

Visit http://www.al1call.com for more information.
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...A Long Dry Spell Ahead...

A very dry weather pattern continues for Alabama for the next five
days. Not necessarily good news for a state that is parched from the
lack of rain since the first of the year, but great news if you have
anything planned outdoors. Our forecast will consist of mostly sunny
mild days and clear cool nights through early next week; daytime highs
will generally be in the 70s with lows in the 40s through Sunday. The
dry weather will continue into the first part of next week.

OUR NEXT RAIN: At this point it looks like the next good chance of
significant and potentially beneficial rain for Alabama will come at
some point during the middle or end of next week. The latest medium
range computer models are targeting Thursday of next week (April 26)
as the day that rain returns to the state. Then, another dynamic
weather system moves through the following weekend with another chance
of rain and thunderstorms. Right now it looks like the best chance of
that rain will fall on Sunday (April 29), but there isn't too much
skill in a specific forecast beyond seven days, and the timing will
probably change as we get closer to the event. But, the bottom line is
that it looks like we will have at least two major systems before the
end of the month that could bring some needed rain to Alabama.

HOW DRY? 39% is our share of normal rainfall at Birmingham Airport so
far this year. 7.22 inches is all we have received.11.26 inches is our
shortfall. This is a major deficiency. The way rain falls determines
greatly how beneficial it is. When we are very dry, like we are now, a
2-inch rain falling in one hour is not nearly as beneficial as 1 inch
falling slowly over a period of 6 or 8 hours. The heavy quick rain
doesn't have time to soak in and is mostly run off. However, a quick
2-inch rain is more beneficial to streams and reservoirs, because it
runs off quickly toward those places.

YESTERDAY: Most of North Alabama did not receive enough rain to
measure yesterday; in fact most communities did not get a single drop.
There were some decent rain totals closer to the Gulf Coast; the ABC
33/40 SKYCAM at the Phoenix All-Suites in Gulf Shores (just east of
the Public Beach) reported 0.41" of rain from morning showers. The
total at Mobile was 0.36". Farther north, Greenville (Butler County)
and Troy (Pike County) both measured only 0.02".

SO FAR IN 2007: Based on data from the Birmingham Airport, the coldest
temperature in 2007 so far was 18 degrees, which was recorded on
January 29. The warmest temperature so far is 87 degrees, which was
the high on March 25. The wettest day was January 21 when we were
soaked with 1.15".

ROAMING: Hottest spots in the nation yesterday were McAllen, Texas and
Goodyear, Arizona with 95 degrees. Heavy thunderstorms in Puerto Rico
dumped 1.92" on San Juan.

James Spann
jspann@abc3340.com

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

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CONNECT 3 ON 3 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
APRIL 28 IN HOOVER

Connect 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament is coming to Hoover on
Saturday, April 28. This is a competitive tournament for guys and
girls ages middle school through adults. Games will be played on
the parking lot of Hunter Street Baptist Church, 2600 John Hawkins
Parkway in Hoover. Five eligible players will have a chance at the
$10,000 Hot Shot competition!

Players, invite family and friends to the Family Fun Zone, for games,
face painting, food, music and more!

Register today at

http://www.connect3on3.com/HunterStreet

Connect 3 on 3 is sponsored by Hunter Street Baptist Church,
WJOX 100.5 FM, Buffalo Rock, The Stewart Organization, ABC 33/40,
Bruce Business Products, The American Red Cross, Jason's Deli and
Princeton Hoover Medical.
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TODAY
Mostly sunny.
Afternoon High 72
WIND: NW 7-14

FRIDAY
Lots of sunshine. A chilly morning but a quick warm-up.
Morning Low 44 Afternoon High 74
WIND: NE 5-10

SATURDAY
Mostly sunny.
Morning Low 47 Afternoon High 78
WIND: E 5-10

SUNDAY
Partly to mostly sunny.
Morning Low 50 Afternoon High 80
WIND: SE 5-10

MONDAY
Partly sunny.
Morning Low 56 Afternoon High 81
WIND: S 5-10

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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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