James Spann: Clearing for Alabama today with warming trend ahead
James Spann forecasts improving weather for Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
IMPROVING WEATHER: We expect a clearing sky for Alabama today as drier air works into the state, but temperatures will remain below average. Highs will be between 40 and 45 degrees for most communities; the average high for Birmingham on Feb. 19 is 60. Tonight will be clear and cold; we drop into the 17- to 25-degree range early Saturday morning.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: A welcomed warming trend begins. Saturday will be sunny with a high in the mid 50s; on Sunday, with a partly sunny sky, we rise into the mid 60s. Clouds will move in Sunday night, and showers will push into the northern part of the state late Sunday night and Monday morning ahead of a Pacific cold front. Moisture will be limited and rain amounts will be a quarter-inch or less for the northern half of the state. South Alabama won’t see much rain. The high Monday will be between 55 and 60 degrees.
REST OF NEXT WEEK: The weather looks dry and very pleasant Tuesday through Thursday with highs in the 60s. A few showers will return Thursday night and Friday, but for now it doesn’t look like a big rain event. The latest Climate Prediction Center outlook suggests temperatures will be above average across Alabama and the eastern third of the U.S. through early March.
ON THIS DATE IN 1884: The Enigma tornado outbreak is thought to be among the largest and most widespread tornado outbreaks in American history, striking on Feb. 19-20, 1884.
The first tornadoes of the day touched down in Mississippi during the late morning, near Louisville and Columbus, passing into Alabama north of Carrollton. A deadly tornado touched down near Oxmoor at 1:20 p.m. This tornado roared northeast toward the new industrial town of Leeds, southeast of Birmingham, killing 13 people there and sweeping away many homes.
About 2:30 p.m., what was likely an F4 tornado roared from the sky near Jacksonville in east Alabama. This would be the deadliest tornado of a very deadly day. Ten people were killed at Germania (now Piedmont). Fourteen people died at Goshen. The school at Goshen was “blown to atoms,” killing the schoolmaster and injuring many of the children. The tornado killed 30 people along its 35-mile path into Georgia. The day is still Georgia’s deadliest tornado disaster, with at least 69 fatalities from at least 17 significant tornadoes.
The rampage would continue into the Carolinas during the late afternoon and evening. One of the deadliest tornadoes of the outbreak killed at least 15 people around the community of Philadelphia, North Carolina.
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