Fall Severe Weather Awareness Day

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Northern Alabama

Tomorrow is "Fall Severe Weather Awareness Day" throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, conducted by the National Weather Service offices.

The purpose of this day is to call attention to the secondary peak severe weather season that begins in the late fall. November historically has been a very active month for severe weather and tornadoes.

That is one thing I had not researched prior to coming to Alabama. Hurricanes, I had considered. Tornados are a new thought.

While we are considering stormy weather- the National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters offers an interesting brochure on Lightning. (pdf)

Did You Know?

There are about 45 lightning strikes per second on the Earth.

Air around lightning heats to 50,000°F. The surface of the Sun is only 10,000°F.

The energy from one lightning strike could power a 100W light bulb for 3 months.

This weather stuff gets more interesting every day!