Get ready to bundle up for what forecasters say will be the coldest weather of the season. Temperatures from the Tennessee Valley to central Alabama are expected to plunge to the upper twenties tonight and Friday night. Weather watchers say these readings are twenty degrees below the average for this time of year. Mark Rose is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Birmingham. He says the frigid conditions are due to a polar vortex coming down from Canada.
“Record lows for this time of year are in the mid-twenties, so we’re going to also be near record lows for this time of the year. But, it’s just a pattern kind of like what we’ve seen even some of last winter, so it looks like we’re continuing this trend of kind of colder weather this winter too.”
Lows along the coast gulf will be in the mid-thirties. Despite the cold forecast, Rose says that doesn’t mean Alabama will have a colder winter. However the chilly conditions will hang around until at least next week.
Alabama GOP officials say they're expecting a victory in the closely watched race for District 6 in the Alabama state Senate. Election officials counted provisional ballots yesterday in the race between longtime Democratic Senator Roger Bedford of Russellville and his Republican challenger Larry Stutts. Bedford was first elected to the state Senate in 1982. He trailed Stutts by 60 votes after the general election. Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement that Stutts' lead widened after the provisional ballots were counted. State election laws require a recount if a winner's margin is less than .5 percent. Lauderdale County Probate Judge James Hall tells the Times Daily election workers will review voter records this morning and he expects to have a final tally by noon.
The nation is taking time this week to honor and remember our military servicemen and women. The group Disabled American Veterans is calling for better policies and legislation regarding their health. Joseph Violante is the national director of the group. He says veterans coming home now are facing problems that weren’t around before…
“Military members who would have died on the battlefield are now living and coming home and the care that they need is extraordinary and very costly so we’re seeing a big difference there and a reason our government, administration and congress needs to ensure that there are proper levels of funding for VA.”
Violante says we are seeing a large number of veterans returning home with recent troop draw downs and women are making up a larger number of veterans than ever before.
Governor Robert Bentley will continue an Alabama holiday tradition today, the pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey named Clyde. The pardoning tradition dates back 60 years. It is also tradition that the turkey is always named Clyde. Bentley will give Clyde his reprieve from the Thanksgiving table at a press conference at the Governor's Mansion. Bates Family Farm in Fort Deposit supplies the turkey each year. Grower Bill Bates first presented Alabama Governor Jim Folsom with a large tom turkey 64 years ago. Bates died last year at the age 89.
