ALERT NEWSLETTER — November 2007 Vol. 1 No. 5

http://www.alert-alabama.org

Hi everybody and welcome the November ALERT Newsletter.

I hope the ghouls and hobgoblins didn’t get you Wednesday night.

The Spotter chats are up and running and so far are working well. We are still formulating the ground rules as we speak and the general “rules of the road” are available on the website and should be studied. More adjustment and tweaking will occur & will be discussed at our next meeting.

Are you an Operational Member? An Operational Member has up to date paid dues. This distinction may become a matter of major importance very soon, so, you might want to contact Ed KD4AY & see if you are paid up.

Why this is being stressed will be detailed at the next meeting.

At our last meeting we had a great turn out. Thirteen in person and three via teleconference.

<p class=”MsoNormal”>If you didn’t make the last meeting I hope to see you at the next one.

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Mark’s Almanac

With the arrival of November we enter our second tornado season. Alabama and the Southeast is “blessed” by being the only area on Earth with two tornado seasons. And, the cause of the second season is the same as the spring season — clashes of cold and warm air masses. The cold air of winter invading and trying to push the warmth of the summer back into the sea, which is the same process of springtime, just in reverse.

<p class="MsoNormal”>The second season is often more destructive than the spring season. So beware of a warm & muggy November day. Especially with a south wind, as something may be brewing.

The Hurricane threat greatly diminishes, with hurricane activity occurring mainly in the open Atlantic, threatening the Eastern Seaboard, but usually veering off into sea as cold fronts off the East Coast deflect them. Hurricanes can still form in the Caribbean, which usually visit the Yucatan, but, can enter the Gulf.

Hurricane season ends November 30.

November welcomes the peak of fall colors. For Birmingham the peak occurs around November 15, but can vary depending on your elevation & latitude.

Indian Summer and Squaw Winter continue to battle it out, but the cool or cold will eventually win, with the first average frost being on November 11.

The usual fall effects occur in North America with Canada’s Hudson Bay becoming unnavigable due to pack ice & icebergs. Navigation in the Great Lakes becomes perilous due to storms bringing the “Gales Of November” made famous in song “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”.

And, don’t be surprised if you hear ducks overhead & see wedges of Canadian geese heading south for the winter. Also don’t be surprised if you see strange birds appearing in your front yard, for to 336 species of birds Alabama IS south for the winter. November’s Full Moon is “Beaver Moon” in Native American folklore.

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Birds

Earlier I mentioned birds. My old piano teacher, Miss Box once told me that “when the ground is covered by blackbirds, expect snow”. Over the years I watched this & refined the theory to be “when the ground is covered by blackbirds, expect a cold front”. And, more times than not it proves true.

But, how do they know? Here it is, a warm sunny day, wind calm, barometer rising and the ground and trees covered and loaded with hundreds of squealing, squawking birds & 24 hours later it’s pouring. Again, how did they know? You tell me.

Birds are also nature’s wind vanes. Those messy blackbirds and their cousins will all sit in trees and on power lines pointing towards the wind.

Did you know that we are all experts on birds?

Why I bet you deal with enough do-do birds and turkeys at work to be lifelong members of the Audubon Society.

I sure know I do. <evil grin>

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This month’s meeting will be on November 13 at 7PM at the National Weather Service

Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport

I hope to see you there.

Until then,

73 and take care.

Mark – WD4NYL

PRESIDENT

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx