West Alabama Thursday Briefing
It is Thursday December 28, 2023. Chilly days and cold nights will take us into New Years weekend and a dry 2023 will end on a wet note according to computer models.
The drought is slowly coming to an end, but its cost is still being added up, especially on forest and farmlands. The U.S. Small Business Administration even declared a Drought Disaster Declaration last month.
Now, as for that snow that has been talked about all week. Don't look for any around West Alabama. Any of the white stuff that falls will be in the form of flurries and snow showers in northeast Alabama, but no accumulation is expected. Of course, there is always January, the month when we do typically have snow every few years.
The Forecast:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 50. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. West wind around 5 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 52. West wind around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 29.
New Year's Eve Day: Sunny, with a high near 59.
New Year's Eve: A 20 percent chance of showers after midnight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.
New Year's Day: A 30 percent chance of showers before noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 52.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 28.
The 1st Week of 2024: Sunny days and partly cloudy to cloud nights. Highs in the lower 50s with lows in the lower 30s.
Topping the News:
Brandon Powell has been charged with Capital Murder in the Christmas Day shooting death of 21-year-old Jaylen Carter in Greene County. Eutaw Police say Carter was shot multiple times inside his car in the 200 block of Howard Irvin Drive.
TPD officers spent the better part of last evening searching city streets for items discarded by a driver from his car during a high-speed chase. It began with an attempted traffic stop near Monte Vista Drive and 36th Avenue East and ended with the driver crashed into a light pole near the Sonic on MLK.
Pickens County deputies are searching for Raymon David Jones. He has been missing since December 17 when he was last seen standing on the porch of his October Drive home in Reform. Jones walks with a cane and has ties to Hamilton and Columbus MS. Call the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office at (205) 367-2000 if you have information.
A new year and new road work is ahead in Tuscaloosa. In a release, ALDOT says it will close 100 feet of Oscar Baxter Drive — between Wendy’s and Pizza Hut —from Jan. 3 through Jan. 26. It is in preparation for utility work to get ready for the new Highway 69 South flyway. Work on the new flyway is expected to be bid early next year.
As we approach the New Year the Better Business Bureau is advising companies and individuals to take time to change passwords and usernames on your internet accounts and websites where you have an account.
BBB’s Carl Bates tells us it is the best way to protect our critical information from hackers and scammers. The City of Cullman was the victim of a ransomware attack this week.
The county's hospital and emergency department are shuttered, and the ambulance service has limited resources. Local officials and residents of Pickens County say people are dying because of the medical shortfall.
Tuscaloosa Paramedic Vickey Sullivan McCrory posted on her Facebook account that a father recently died at Christmas in Pickens County because there was not a single ambulance or medivac helicopter available in the county. The nearest ambulance was in Tuscaloosa.
"We made it there just in time to watch him die," McCrory wrote. She said she is tired of feeling the guilt and burden of not being able to give people decent emergency service.
McCrory posted aa plea for help, saying the people of the county deserve emergency care.
In Sports:
The Southeastern Conference is 0-and-1 in bowl games after a decimated Texas A&M team was beaten by Oklahoma State 31-23 last night in the Texas Bowl.
The line on the Alabama vs Michigan Rose Bowl keeps bouncing back and forth between the Wolverines being a 1.5-point and a 2-point favorite. The last line dropped the Tide back to a one-point underdog in Monday's playoff game.
The Alabama and Michigan Football Teams visited Disneyland yesterday. Both squads participated in the Magic Kingdom's version of the Rose Parade. Tide coach Nick Saban and Miss Terry rode in a white carriage trimmed with red roses and being pulled by a Clydesdale horse.
In the press conference afterward Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe told reporters that it is important for the players to not let all the bowl activities keep them from focusing on the most important part of the trip - the game.
The Dallas Cowboys have waived former Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans after he was arrested Tuesday for marijuana possession in Frisco, TX.
Have a terrific Thursday as we countdown to 2024.
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