The National Weather Service and the Weather Channel are predicting a chance of snow on Monday in Alabama, Mississippi, and northern Georgia and for sure in Tennessee, which could present a potential photo op.
“Accumulating snow is a good bet to develop in the higher southern Appalachians,” according to this report from lead meteorologists Buzz Bernard and M. Ressler.
Farther south, a few light rain showers may appear along the eastern Gulf Coast as a weak low pressure system fires up over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.
At the southern tip of Florida, scattered showers should end before midday.
Most locations in the southern U.S. will experience gusty winds throughout the day.
High temperatures are expected to range from the mid and upper 30s in Tennessee and the southern Appalachians to the mid 70s in south Florida and far southern Texas.
This just in from my good friend and source Aaron Viles
NEW ORLEANS, La., Sept. 1 — As I type this Houma is getting hit by Hurricane Gustav, Baton Rouge is being pummeled, and Gulfport is dealing with some wind and high water. Most troubling though, is that New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward is beginning to flood as the Industrial Canal flood walls are over-topped.
So far the situation hasn’t become critical, as the flood-wall is holding. But I’m holding my breath.
If the flood-wall breaches, the long term future of NOLA could very well be in question. As I watch anxiously, I’m hit by how unnecessary this all is. If we had our coastal wetlands, if the oil companies and the Army Corps of Engineers hadn’t set the stage for our massive land loss, we would be far more secure. Levees alone are not enough. We need to restore our coastal lines of defense, our wetlands and cypress swamps.
Walter Williams has created a new video which captures our crisis, “Blood and Oil.” Take a break from your CNN/Weather Channel viewing and head over to YouTube and help us take advantage of this teachable moment.
Viles is with the non-profit Gulf Restoration Network. The group is asking people to take action to hold Shell accountable — as one of the largest operators in Louisiana, and the most visibly concerned about the coast, “they can help fund the actual restoration,” he said.
They are also requesting that people ask Senators Obama and John McCain to come to New Orleans and debate a sustainable city.
“We need them to take a break from their highly scripted campaigns and come take questions from real people about the real challenges facing our region,” he said.
Hurricane Gustav made landfall about 10 a.m. Monday as a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, missing New Orleans to the Southwest.
While the “Big Easy” seemed to dodge the bullet, the storm blew a huge hole in the planning for the Republican National Convention, forcing the GOP to drastically change plans and reminding voters of the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina three years ago by the Bush administration.
Speeches by President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and others were canceled on Monday. And Republican nominee John McCain’s scheduled appearance to accept the nomination on Wednesday was also in doubt.
Our special focus for the past year and a half has involved in-depth coverage of the travails of Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy on trial, especially as the investigation made it's way to Washington last fall. To catch up on all our coverage, check out this archive and this one that goes even further back to the original Scrushy trial in Birmingham.
