08/12/2026
Thanks to all who made our visit yesterday with James Spann an absolute delight: Hayley Croft who set up the visit; Marsha and Phil Hurt who supplied refreshments and a projector screen; and our kind neighbors at Moon Lake Baptist Church, especially Lynn Castleberry who provided lots of assistance.
No matter how much we thought we knew about Alabama weather, James showed us how much more useful information is out there. He stressed how dangerous reliance on sirens can be and how almost all tornadoes are survivable with proper preparation. His priority is to keep people safe when severe weather hits, and his concern for victims and their families was apparent. Every loss of life means evaluating how the warnings failed and how the system needs to adapt to increase its effectiveness.
His colleague Kevin Laws, the Science/Operations Officer with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, filled us in on how the weather service is starting to increase the accuracy of its warnings so that people take them more seriously. Kevin also showed a model of the largest piece of hail documented in Alabama, and you do NOT want to get smacked in the head by something that large.
Thanks to James and Kevin and all the scientists who devote their time to this critical work!
