West Alabama Tuesday Briefing
Tuesday, August 29, 2023: just two days left in August, three days after today before the beginning of the long Labor Day weekend and four days after today for the kickoff of the University of Alabama 2023 Football Season. And another thing about today, it seems the long excessive heat of the summer has been broken.
The Forecast:
Today: Mostly cloudy with shower and thunderstorm chances increasing by afternoon. Daytime high temperatures will range from the middle 80s far north to the lower 90s elsewhere.
Tonight: Look for decreasing cloudiness in the far northwest, otherwise look for a mostly cloudy sky. The best rain chances will be across the southeast. Overnight low temperatures will range from the middle to upper 60s.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy with shower and thunderstorm chances by afternoon. The best chances will be across the SE half.
The Rest of the Week: Sunny with a high of 88 and clear with a low of 70 on Thursday. We will wrap up the work week on Friday with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day with a high of 88. Friday night high school football weather should be partly cloudy with a low of 69.
Saturday, Bama Game Day: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Saturday night, partly cloudy and 69 for a low.
The Remainder of the Holiday Weekend: Sunny days with highs in the upper 80 and partly cloudy nights with lows in the upper 60s.
Topping the News:
Tuscaloosa leaders are unanimously supporting a proposed partnership between DCH Health System and the University of Alabama.
According to a statement signed August 4th and obtained by Tuscaloosa Thread, Mayor Walt Maddox and all seven members of the city council signed the statement, which comes after 36 months of discussion between leaders in Tuscaloosa, Northport and Tuscaloosa County. The crux of the discussions centered around DCH, its long-term financial health, emergency room services, mental health services, capital investments as well as recruitment and retention of first-class medical professionals.
A traffic stop in Brent last Thursday netted multiple narcotics and packages similar to the ones being used to smuggle drugs into Bibb County Correctional facility. Jerome Gregory, Amber Deloach, Mikalah Malik and Desmond Brown were arrested and are under 3-million dollars bond each.
Hotels along the Florida panhandle and in South Alabama are reporting evacuees arriving from Florida in advance of tonight’s expected landfall of a strong Hurricane Idelia along the Big Bend. The National Hurricane Center reports the track has shifted a little westward but still should not have impact on the State of Alabama. Other than evacuees; rip currents and high surf are expected to be the only effect on our state.
Something that is impacting Alabama is a surge in COVID19 hospitalizations according to State Health Office Dr. Scott Harris. Some 250 patients have been admitted to hospitals across Alabama with a variant of COVID19.So far, the symptoms are being reported as relatively mild compared to 2021.
Harris blames the excessive heat for driving people indoors and in closer proximity to each other for the increase.
After receiving a threatening phone call from an out of state phone number yesterday; law enforcement, staff and teachers are monitoring Tuscaloosa’s Central Elementary School closely for any abnormalities.
45 Tuscaloosa residents have been selected to participate in the 2023-24 class of Leadership Tuscaloosa. The new class includes business, education, media, government, healthcare and community organization members. The emersion into community leadership issues runs 9-months.
The month of August will wrap up with a supermoon – the third of four of the year. And since this is the second supermoon in the same month, it is considered a super blue moon.
NASA defines the term supermoon “as either a new or full moon that happens when the moon is within 90% of perigee, its closest approach to Earth.”
The moon will be closest to Earth for this orbit Wednesday morning at 11:55. According to NASA, the moon will appear full for three days, from Tuesday to Friday morning.
In Sports:
For the 1st time since Nick Saban has been at Alabama, he did not present a depth chart to media at his game week press conference. He explained that he wants all the players preparing for the game, not worried about whether they are starting or not. So, no depth chart, no hint at who the starting quarterback will be Saturday, even though he has said Jalen Milroe has made tremendous progress.
Have a tremendous Tuesday and ROLL TIDE!!