West Alabama Thursday Briefing

It is Thursday December 14, 2023. Those of us who were around in 1997 might remember how we came relatively close to a white Christmas. According to national Weather Service Birmingham records, parts of West-Central Alabama saw significant snowfall amounts between 4" to 8" then. The weight of the snow caused limbs of trees to break, which knocked down power lines and resulted in power outages.

The coming days will be wet but not frozen. A surface low will form in the northern Gulf of Mexico tomorrow night and spread rain into almost all of Alabama over the weekend.

The rain will begin Saturday afternoon over the southern counties and spread northward Saturday night and Sunday. There is no risk of severe thunderstorms. 1" to 2" of rainfall is possible.

The Forecast:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. East wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low of around 40. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 62. East wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. East wind around 5 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. East wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48.

Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 60.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.

The New Work Week: Sunny days with highs in the upper 50s with mostly clear nights and lows in the mid 30s.

Get our free mobile app

Topping the News:

Charges of failure to pay taxes have been dismissed against Tuscaloosa City Councilman Cassius Lanier. Judge James Gentry has dismissed the case on a motion from the state of Alabama and said all payments to the Tax Board have been satisfied. Lanier owns three local businesses and represents Council District 7.

The 3 and a quarter inches of rain over the past weekend have knocked down the active wildfires in Alabama to just one. It is a 2-and-a-quarter-acre fire in Blount County. However, West Alabama is still an inch below normal rainfall for December.

24-year-old William Brooks Foster of McCalla has been charged with murder and DUI for a deadly collision earlier this year in Bibb County. That crash killed 60-year-old Gerald W. McRee on Alabama 5 near Woodstock. Court documents allege Foster was driving on the wrong side of the road and drunk at the time of the accident.

Deadlines for mailing those Christmas gifts are coming up at the U-S Postal Service. Deadlines for USPS Ground Advantage and First-Class Mail Are Dec. 16^th, Priority Mail is Dec. 18^th and Priority Mail Express is Dec. 20^th.

Be very careful about Christmas shopping online. There are scammers and hackers everywhere. Monde Davidson of the Better Business Bureau warns, if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Davidson also asks shoppers to be alert to advisements on websites that a product is almost gone. It is another way to steal your money.

Some Northport residents opposed to the plan to sell the Northport Community Center and adjacent park to a developer had started a GoFundMe account to raise money to challenge the plan in court. Now that the city has scraped those plans, the money is being returned to the donors.

Some of those same residents are now pushing for the city to upgrade the community center and the park.

In Sports:

The Florida Attorney General has started an anti-trust investigation into how Alabama and Texas, each with a loss, got into the CFP over undefeated Florida State.

“I know injustice when I see it,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement.

Moody’s office wants a long list of documents and information, including all communications with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Southeastern Conference and sports media outlet ESPN.

Critics in her own state are calling the investigation a political grandstand for votes in the next election.

The Southeastern Conference has released the 2024 schedules for the member schools, including new members Texas and Oklahoma. Alabama's is a difficult one.