James Spann

Spann was the 33rd person in America to receive the AMS distinction as a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist.

James Max Spann Jr. (born June 6, 1956) is a television meteorologist and podcast host based in Birmingham, Alabama.

He currently works for WBMA-LD (ABC 33/40), Birmingham's ABC affiliate.

Spann was born on June 6, 1956, in Huntsville, Alabama, to Max and Carolyn Spann (1932–2018).

As a child, he and his family moved to Greenville in Butler County.

His mother worked as a secretary at Greenville High School, while his father sold lumber.

When Spann was 7, his father left the family, leaving Carolyn to raise him.

After Spann finished the fourth grade, he and his mother moved to Tuscaloosa, so that his mother could complete her education at the University of Alabama and become a schoolteacher.

Spann began his broadcast career in Tuscaloosa in 1973 at WTBC radio.

There, in high school, he worked the night shift, while former ABC 33/40 anchor Dave Baird worked mornings.

Spann volunteered many hours following the 1974 Alabama tornadoes in Jasper.

Spann has worked in the field since 1978.

He began his television career in the summer of 1978 at 33/40 predecessor WCFT in Tuscaloosa, the "33" in 33/40.

In fall 1978, Spann moved to WSFA in Montgomery as weekend sports anchor and part-time weatherman.

After spending the summer of 1979 as afternoon-drive announcer at Top 40 station WHHY-FM ("Y102") in Montgomery, he was hired at WAPI-TV in Birmingham as chief weatherman, despite having no formal weather education.

At the age of 23, he was one of the youngest chief weathermen in the country.

Channel 13 was sold to Times Mirror in 1980 and renamed WVTM-TV, and Spann was moved to sister station KDFW in Dallas in 1984.

In 1985, he was named the best weathercaster in the Metroplex by the Dallas Press Club, defeating such competition as KXAS-TV's Harold Taft and WFAA-TV's Troy Dungan.

After two years, he returned to Alabama as part-owner of a small AM-FM radio station combo in Demopolis with Dave Baird.

He returned to television in October 1989 as chief weatherman at Birmingham's WBRC-TV.

At the same time, he enrolled in Mississippi State University's meteorology program, earning the NWA and AMS seals of approval upon his graduation.

Spann left WBRC in 1996 to the newly formed ABC 33/40, which had merged WCFT with WJSU-TV in Anniston and a new low-power repeater in Birmingham (WBMA-LD), and had replaced WBRC as Birmingham's ABC affiliate.

He has been at ABC 33/40 ever since.

The organization grew out of WRRS/Reality Radio, a commercial FM radio station that broadcast Contemporary Christian music in the Birmingham market from 2000 to 2001.

He is also the host of WeatherBrains, a weekly weather podcast and board chairman of the Children's Hospital of Alabama.

He won an Emmy Award with John Oldshue from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for live coverage of a deadly tornado in Tuscaloosa on December 16, 2000.

(A camera mounted on the transmitter tower of the former Channel 33 captured live images of the tornado as it moved through the community.) The station won an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for this coverage.

He is also the host of the podcast WeatherBrains which he started in 2006.

Starting in 2007, Spann could be heard by listeners of the syndicated Rick and Bubba Show.

He is also the chairman and one of the founders of AllWorship.com, a non-profit organization webcasting three streaming radio stations which feature worship music in English and Spanish.

On April 27, 2011, Spann and meteorologist Jason Simpson did over 12 hours of live coverage during the 2011 Super Outbreak for both the morning squall line and afternoon supercells.

During the afternoon he went live at 2pm to update viewers on the conditions while mentioning a developing supercell that would later produce the Cullman EF-4 tornado.

For the supercell, he saw the Significant Tornado Parameter was 12.6, a value he had never seen before on a scale he thought went to 10.

He showed both the Cullman EF-4 and Tuscaloosa EF-4 tornadoes live on air and for the latter called out locations by name that would be impacted by it while stating that the day "would go down in state history...and all you can do is pray for those people."

During all of the live coverage he was collected and operating calmly, but with a urgent tone in his voice.

During the March 25, 2021 tornado outbreak multiple intense tornadoes struck central Alabama, including a low-end EF3 tornado that damaged Spann's home.

During his live coverage he paused to text his wife to take shelter and calmly continued on without missing a beat.

Spann received two major national awards following his live coverage of the April 2011 tornado super outbreak, which claimed over 250 lives, and had over 50 tornadoes.

The National Weather Association named him Broadcaster of the Year, in recognition of his "passionate dedication to serving the Central Alabama community with critical weather information for over 30 years, especially during the deadly April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak".

The American Meteorological Society also awarded Spann the Award for Broadcast Meteorology "for his tireless efforts to advance the public's awareness of, and engagement in, the science of meteorology, particularly severe weather forecasting and response."