Bill Murray: Alabama heats up as summer begins

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER: The earth’s axis is tilted, which, of course, gives us the miracle of seasons. Today at 3:50 p.m. is the summer solstice, marking the point when the northern hemisphere is tilted most toward the sun. Today, we enjoy the longest day and shortest night of the year. Sunrise today was at 5:37 a.m., the earliest of the year, and sunset is at 8 p.m. Today’s daylight length will be 14 hours, 22 minutes and change. Temperatures will get warmer through July.
WEEKEND OUTLOOK: Our big ridge of high pressure in the upper atmosphere is finally beginning to show signs of weakness. It will hang tight through Friday, but a few showers may show up over southeastern Alabama by Saturday afternoon. They will increase Sunday and Monday and become fairly common by June 25 right on up to the Fourth of July.
FOURTH OF JULY SNEAK PEEK: A stalled front may bring higher-than-normal rain chances on July 2-3, with lesser chances on Independence Day. Temperatures will be cooler early in the week, with 80s Monday and Tuesday, returning to near 90 by Wednesday and soaring into the middle 90s on July 4.
TROPICS: Tropical Storm Alberto finally got its act together enough to become an official tropical cyclone Wednesday. The lumbering, wet and windy cyclone moved into northeastern Mexico early this morning. The effects were felt far to the north, with tropical-storm-force winds, very heavy rains, coastal flooding and tornadoes well into Texas. A tornado caused damage near Rockport, Texas, Wednesday evening.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is getting more bullish on the idea that a second tropical cyclone will form over the southeastern Caribbean in coming days, an idea supported by the global models.
The NHC is still tracking a disturbance east of the Bahamas but puts the chances of development as very small. It appears that the low-pressure system will come ashore Friday afternoon between Jacksonville and Savannah with wind gusts to about 30 mph and scattered showers. No biggie.
ON THIS DATE IN 2001: A major hailstorm pounded Denver International Airport, damaging 93 commercial planes and causing the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the next several days. There were two minor injuries. More than 14,000 holes and cracks were punched in the flat roofs of the terminal buildings by hail up to 2 inches in diameter. More than 4,000 automobiles sustained hail damage. An hour later, 30 private planes were damaged by hail at Front Range Airport in Watkins, Colorado.
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