James Spann: March comes in like a lamb; warming trend ahead for Alabama
James Spann forecasts a big warm-up for Alabama from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
DRY DAYS: Look for another big warm-up across Alabama today; with sunshine in full supply look for a high between 66 and 70 degrees this afternoon. Dry weather will continue for the rest of the week with sunny days, clear nights and a warming trend. Look for low 70s Wednesday, mid 70s Thursday and upper 70s by Friday. It will be remarkably quiet for the first week of March, which is our wettest month of the year with an average of almost 6 inches.
THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Humidity levels will rise a bit, but an upper high should keep the state dry with partly sunny days and fair nights. It will be the warmest weekend so far this year, with highs between 78 and 82 degrees.
NEXT WEEK: Showers and storms return to Alabama Monday; there will be a decent amount of surface-based instability in place, so strong storms can’t be ruled out. It’s still too early to know whether severe storms will be possible. The surface front stalls out Monday night near the Tennessee state line, so some risk of rain and storms will continue into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. The high will be in the upper 70s Monday; then 60s are likely for midweek.
ON THIS DATE IN 2007: An EF4 tornado struck Enterprise around 1:10 p.m. Eight students at Enterprise High School and another man in the community died in the tragedy. The fatalities at the school occurred when a concrete wall collapsed on a group of students huddled in a hallway. A controversy arose as national media outlets questioned whether school administrators should have dismissed school early, but nearly all local residents supported the decision to keep students at school. If the students had been sent home, no doubt the death toll would have been much higher.
A high-risk outlook was issued early that morning and a particularly dangerous situation (PDS) tornado watch was issued hours in advance. The National Weather Service Tallahassee issued a tornado warning a full eight minutes before the tornado struck the school.
Another devastating tornado struck the Millers Ferry area in Wilcox County, killing one man. That tornado also ranked as an EF4.
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