Weather Blogs

Home of Storm Chaser Videographer Jeff Gammons.

Total news: 10
Last news: October 28, 2008 02:42:10

Discussions, thoughts, and comments from the ABC 33/40 team of meteorologists. Updated often daily, 7 days a week!

Total news: 318
Last news: 2 hours 16 minutes ago

Most of the showers and thunderstorms shifted over into East and Northeast Alabama by early this afternoon and some of them are heavy with significant downpours.

By far, the most lightning as of 1 pm seemed to be centered over St. Clair County. The NWS continues an Areal Flood Advisory in East St. Clair County until 2:15. NWS says an estimated one to two inches of rain has occurred in as little as one hour and more heavy rain was occurring.

Scattered storms also were over other parts of Northeast Alabama. Thay also extended southward as far as Autauga County.

Everything moving generally eastward.

NO 90 IN BIRMINGHAM TODAY?
Sure is possible. The official 1 pm temperature at Birmingham Airport was only 83! It was 85 in Tuscaloosa at the same time..

Those showers and thunderstorms now in a line over West Alabama. A 1 o’clock, the line extended from west of Fayette down through West Tuscaloosa County to Moundville and Akron, in Hale County, then to near Demopolis and finally into Choctaw and Monroe County in Southwest Alabama.

Moving steadily toward the northeast and increasing in intensity.

The old tropical low, somewhat discombobulated, was centered over Southwest Mississippi but part of it extending into West Alabama. It will be moving north or northeast.

THIS INFORMATION IS HISTORICAL – NOT CURRENT. THERE ARE NO TROPICAL STORMS IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN AT THIS TIME.

Early on the morning of Friday, August 15, 1969, Camille was located about 100 miles south of the western tip of Cuba. An ESSA (the predecessor to NOAA) reconnaissance flight found 90 knot surface winds in the developing hurricane.

On the next advisory, Camille was upgraded to hurricane status.

THIS IS HISTORICAL INFORMATION. IT IS NOT CURRENT. THE REMNANTS OF TD FIVE MAY REDEVELOP ON MONDAY OVER THE NORTHERN GULF, BUT THERE IS NO NAMED STORM AT THIS TIME…

On the evening of Friday, August 15, 1969, Hurricane Camille was crossing the western tip of Cuba. The storm’s maximum intensity had only weakened slightly during its short trip over the island. Forecasters knew that the storm was going to be a big problem when it got into the confines of the Gulf.

After weakening near Haiti and Jamaica, Hurricane Allen was again strengthening on this date in 1980.

A minimum pressure of 899 millibars (26.55 inches) was recorded by a NOAA aircraft at 12:42 p.m. CDT on the 7th when it was off the Yucatan Peninsula.

Only Hurricane Gilbert with the all time low pressure reading of 888 mb in 1988, and the infamous Labor Day hurricane of 1935 with a central pressure of 892 mb, were stronger than Allen’s 899 mb central pressure.

Emergency management officials all along the Gulf Coast were preparing for a possible onslaught from Allen’s destructive winds and forecasters were desperately trying to calculate which way the monster storm would go when it entered the Gulf of Mexico. 250,000 people were being evacuated along the Texas coast. Offshore oil rigs were shuttling workers to safety via helicopters. One of the choppers crashed into the Gulf, killing 13 people.

Allen would lose strength again near the Yucatan Peninsula but regained it over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico before eventually moving into Texas north of Brownsville.

Here is the current top ten;
1 Wilma, 2005, 882
2 Gilbert, 1988, 888
3 “Labor Day”, 1935, 892
4 Rita, 2005, 895
5 Allen, 1980, 899
6 Katrina, 2005, 902
7 Camille, 1969, 905
8t Mitch, 1998, 905 and Dean, 2007
10t “Cuba”, 1924, 910 and Ivan, 2004

BULLETIN HURRICANE EARL INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 33A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072010 200 PM EDT THU SEP 02 2010 …EARL EXPECTED TO PASS NEAR THE OUTER BANKS AS A LARGE AND POWERFUL HURRICANE TONIGHT… SUMMARY OF 200 PM EDT…1800 UTC…INFORMATION ———————————————- LOCATION…31.7N 75.2W ABOUT 245 MI…395 KM S OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA [...] - [Read more]

Hurricane Earl is now a Category Two storm with winds sustained around 105 MPH in the eye wall, but hurricane force winds (74 MPH and higher) extend out about 70 miles from the center. Tropical storm force winds are out 205 miles from the center (39 MPH or higher).

At 3 AM Central, the strongest winds could be found in eastern North Carolina around Cedar Island and Frisco. Here was the NWS Moorehead City’s wind round-up at the top of the hour:

Earl is making a turn to the north-northeast, and although there will not be an official “landfall” in the United States, tropical storm force winds and gusts in the 70 to 90 MPH range will be possible early today in North Carolina’s Outer Banks and again tomorrow morning in eastern Massachusetts, Maine, and into Nova Scotia, Canada. Rough surf is also expected up and down the coast.

-Jason

Follow me on Twitter: @simpson3340

When the mercury reached 90F before before noon today at the Birmingham Airport, it marked the 48th consecutive day that had happened. Each day that we add increases the record.

Skies were partly cloudy across North and Central Alabama with a decent fair weather cumulus field across the state. A few showers were beginning to show up on radar over West and Northwest Alabama. A few showers were over Pickens and Sumter Counties. Another was just south of the Shoals.

Scattered showers will continue to develop through the afternoon. If you are lucky enough to get under one, you will see some brief heavy rain. Lightning will be intense in the storms that do form.

The mercury was climbing through the 90s with 93F at Birmingham and Anniston and 95F in Tuscaloosa.

KBHM 220153Z 25019G47KT 3/4SM +TSRA BKN032 BKN055CB OVC095 26/22 A3000 RMK AO2 PK WND 28047/0150 TSE02B12RAB24 SLP149 FRQ LTGICCG S-OHD-N TS OHD MOV SE P0039 T02560217 RVRNO

That METAR observation from the Birmingham Airport shows a peak wind of 47 knots at 8:50 mph. That’s nearly 54 mph.

Minor flooding is being reported in Tarrant. Power is out as well.

The NWS has issued a SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN BLOUNT, WESTERN ST. CLAIR AND NORTHEASTERN JEFFERSON COUNTIES UNTIL 815 PM CDT.

…At this hour, Hurricane Earl is barely a hurricane with highest sustained winds of 80 mph

…..Earl was centered over 200 miles southwest of Nantucket, Mass. Moving NE at 22 mph.

…..He will weaken more and later this evening, or overnight, he will be demoted to a tropical storm.

…..Most hurricane force winds tonight should be east (offshore) from Cape Cod.

6 PM CDT SPOT REPORTS
…..Boston, light rain, wind east 14, foggy with visibility only 1/4 ile
…..Nantucket, cloudy/foggy, wind east, gusts 29
…..South of Montauk Point, N.Y., wind NE, gusts 31, 16 foot waves
…..Frying Pan Buoy, N.C., wind SW 24, five foot waves (included that report to illustrate how the weather has settled down considerably along and off North Carolina)

ALABAMA SHOWERS
At 6 o’clock, they had thinned greatly, only isolated and there is a small area of light rain Tuscaloosa County. (Translation: Most high school stadiums should stay dry for tonight’s games)

ADVANCING DRY AIR
The dew point at Tuscaloosa at 6 pm was 60. Looking upstream, it was only 48 at Jackson, in West Tennessee. That is a hint of how much lower our humidity will be Saturday.One of our most trusted (?) weather models is projecting the Birmingham dew point as low as 43 to 48 Saturday afternoon! A real feel of autumn!

* Storms over NW Alabama have weakened. These were the ones that prompted an earlier Flash Flood Warning for Lamar and Marion County.

* Flash Flood Warning continues until 9 pm for Marshall County in NE Alabama.

* A small but intense storm formed over SW Jefferson County this evening dumping very heavy rain. In the Concord/Hueytown area Skywatcher John Talbot reported the rain was coming down at the rate of 5.28 inches per hour at one time.

The official temperature reached 90 at Birmingham Airport between noon and 1 o’clock today so the long string of 90 degrees or hotter goes unbroken.

Today is the 45th day in a row with high temperatures 90 or above!

The remnant low that was tropical depression five is clearly evident on radar this morning southeast of Alexander City. You can see it in the image above.

Showers and storms continue this morning thanks to that low, now over parts of Blount, Jefferson Shelby, Chilton, Coosa, Talladega and St. Clair Counties.

Nearly two inches fell at the Shelby County Airport through 9:46 and rain was still falling.

Others are over West Alabama from Lamar and Pickens Counties down to Marengo and Wilcox Counties.

The activity seems to be growing once again and hopefully it will be a wet day across much of the area. I hope that you get your outdoor plans in, but we need the rain and a break in the heat. Could this be the day that the record 90F temperature streak at the Birmingham Airport comes to an end?

A roundup of highs on this Friday, August 20

ALABAMA
90 Albertville
93 Courtland
95 Decatur
92 Fort Payne Airport
90 Guntersville
95 Huntsville
96 Muscle Shoals
91 Russellville
91 Scottsboro
88 Valley Head
91 Cullman Airport
91 Anniston
88 Auburn
93 Birmingham
90 Shelby County Airport
94 Dothan
93 Evergreen
93 Mobile
95 Montgomery
94 Troy
94 Tuscaloosa
94 Pinson

OUTSIDE ALABAMA
100 Little Rock
97 Memphis
91 Milwaukee
93 Nashville
90 New York City
101 Oklahoma City
96 Orlando
93 Philadelphia
110 Phoenix
92 Richmond
92 St. Louis
101 Tulsa

USA EXTREMES/LOWER 48
28 this morning at Charleston, Nev.
115 this afternoon in Death Valley

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. COLD FRONT ARRIVES TONIGHT: We warm into the low 90s today with a partly sunny sky, and we will still mention some risk of a [...] - [Read more]

The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme Video on iTunes by clicking here. Forecast appears to be pretty much on track as Central Alabama is looking at probably the coolest day this month thanks to clouds and rain. Alabamians [...] - [Read more]

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. LINGERING SHOWERS THIS MORNING: We continue to see some scattered light rain on radar this morning, but the sky should become partly sunny this afternoon [...] - [Read more]

UPDATED AT 7:15 PM FOR LATER REPORTS

* EMA reports power lines down one mile SW of Montevallo on White Street.

* Some very heavy rain around the area this afternoon. A few early reports:

1.38 McCalla (thanks to Lawrence Weedov)
1.35 Bessemer
1.00 Odenville
2.39 Shelby County Airport (NWS Office)
0.85 Pleasant Grove
0.78 Concord/Hueytown (still raining)

* John Talbot, 33/40 Skywatcher for Concord/Hueytown reports this thunderstorm was the worst that he has seen in a long time. He also reports that he is getting numerous reports of power out in Hueytown.

* The 33/40 Skywatcher for Odenville had similar remarks about the intensity of the lightning a little earlier.

By early this afternoon, a few showers had developed across North and Central Alabama. The showers were generally small and not very heavy.

Thy will increase some as the afternoon goes on and they will be moving generally west to east.

By 1 o’clock this afternoon, the temperature had reached 93 in both Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. THIS AFTERNOON: A band of scattered showers and storms is moving through the Deep South ahead of a cold front; the showers are in the [...] - [Read more]

Storms are moving slowly to the northwest, and will die down quickly after the sun sets this evening. The stongest storms at 6:20 are over Bibb and Chilton Counties, with lots of lightning and very heavy rain from Brent and Centreville down to Isabella. Other scattered storms are east of Sylacauga, north of Oneonta, and south of Weiss Lake in Cherokee County.

Just took a half-mile walk around the community, minus a certain little puppy, and it feels much better than on recent days. The reason: Lower dew points: Translation, less humid.

The dew point at noon today was some five degrees lower than recent days and even lower than that across parts of North Alabama.

However, I agree with Jason, writing in the current “Seven Day Forecast” that we may still reach or exceed 90 again today which would make 50 in a row . By the way, you can easily find the 7-day discussion and forecast 24 hours a day. Look at the top left of this page and click on the first link in blue. Or click here:

http://www.alabamawx.com/?page_id=31752

Some noon numbers:

…..88 at Birmingham Airport, dew point 70
…..90 Tuscaloosa, dew point 68
…..61 is the dew point at Muscle Shoals
…..62 is the dew point at Decatur

Don’t be surprised to hear of some low temperatures around 58, 59, 60 in the “cooler NE Alabama valleys later this week, before this drier air is booted out.

AND THIS UNUSUAL NOTE FOR RECENT DAYS
Noon doppler radar shows NO showers or storms in these places:

…..Kentucky
…..Tennessee
…..Arkansas
…..Louisiana
…..Mississippi
…..Alabama
…..Georgia

That will, of course, change for some areas later this afternoon.

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. BELOW 70: Nice to see some 60s on the board this morning. Coolest at 5:00 was Haleyville with 64 degrees; Birmingham is reporting 70, but [...] - [Read more]

The Good Ole USA always has a great contrast in weather and climate. Not to mention weather around the world. It blows my little mind that I can sit at my computer and get instant weather from all parts of the world. The variety is absolutely amazing.

Growing up in West Alabama I had to listen to distant 50,000 watt AM radio stations at night and before daybreak to get very much weather, including WHO, Des Moines. (there was no FM) We did not have TV but even if we did, they signed off late at night. (remember the legendary “test patterns” you could enjoy watching the rest of the night?)

I did subscribe to the Daily Weather Map published in Washington. However, it came in the mail one day (and sometimes) two days late. I studied it like an important document.

Stop roaming, JB–you are bad about that, and get back to the subject of this post. Check out these two cities:

DALLAS-FORT WORTH (DFW Airport)
…..average daily high so far this month 102.4
…..average daily low 80.2
…..Number of days 100 or hotter all 17
…..hottest day, August 6 with 105
…..total rain only 0.21 all on the same day

DALLAS/LOVE FIELD
…..average daily high this August 103
…..all 17 days were 101 or hotter
…..average morning low 82.5 (many ACs probably hummed all night!)

DES MOINES
…..high yesterday a cool 75
…..rain amount so far this month 9.04 inches!
…..total for year to date 42.30!
…..excess rain amount as of yesterday an amazing 18.76 inches!

Des Moines has received 6.64 inches more rain than Birmingham this year to date. Maybe our great friend, the much-loved Gulf of Mexico has been asleep at times!

Iowa has had major flood and flash-flood problems during the last several weeks.

The latest edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme Video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme Video on iTunes by clicking here. Thanks to a cold front that has moved through Central Alabama overnight, we are going to be seeing and feeling a touch of autumn with cooler [...] - [Read more]

It is not the only shower or thunderstorm in the state
Not even the only heavy shower
…and not the only thunderstorm

But for a change, lets zoom in on the heaviest one in the entire state and mention some small communities that rarely get mentioned..

It is in an east-west position right along the Talladega-Coosa County line. These communities are getting a dousing:

…..Sylacauga
…..Talladega Springs
…..Parkdale
…..Stewartville

The south edge of the heavy rain is north of Rockford but barely north of Goodwater

Moving northeast toward Childersburg

The band of rain continues over North, Northeast and East Central Alabama at this hour. Some drier air aloft on the western periphery of this band has allowed enough heating to destabilize the atmosphere and some heavier showers with a little thunder have developed over western Jefferson County and moved into Walker County.

More heavy showers were developing over Clay county. They will move into Talladega and St. Clair Counties in a bit.

Temperatures were in the 80s in the areas that didn’t see rain this morning, 70s in the rain areas. 2.30 inches of rain in Springville at Brenda Varner’s place. Brenda was reporting 71F before 3 p.m. JB had over two inches of rain in northeast Trussville.

Thanks to Stephen Pridmore for this picture taken behind Old Cahaba in Helena this afternoon…

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. HIGHS IN THE 90s: The fact that the weather is hot is not all that unusual for early September, I often point out the first [...] - [Read more]

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. HOT AND HUMID: The weather will continue to feel a little more like August today and tomorrow with highs in the low 90s with a [...] - [Read more]

Even with the extended hot spell, we have been seemingly luckily that there have been few air quality alerts. I don’t know if mitigation efforts are working, or if we have had less in the way of stagnant conditions, but there seem to have been fewer.

But there is an air quality alert for Monday for Jefferson and Shelby Counties. There is also one for the Huntsville/Decatur area.

A few tips from the Alabama Partners for Clean Air:

• Carpool or take the bus
• Combine errands into one trip – Postpone unnecessary travel
• Limit idling-avoid drive thru’s
• Mow the lawn another day
• Don’t burn leaves or trash
• Don’t fill your gas tank until after 6 p.m.

A long curved arc best describes the northern progression of showers and thunderstorms in Alabama late this afternoon.

At 5:30 that “arc” was roughly along a Hamilton-Jasper-Birmingham-Leeds-Sylacauga line. Not a solid line by any means. Some of heavier downpours:

…..Marion County (heaviest of all)
…..North Walker County

South of the so called “arc” showers and a few thunderstorms were more widely separated.

Everything moving north.

A line of intense thunderstorms still dumping lots of heavy rain and numerous lightning bolts over NW Alabama The line of thunderstorms extended from North Lamar County NE across South and East Marion County into Central Lawrence County.

Other strong storms over North Alabama extended from NE Cullman County eastward to south of Guntersville and to near Fort Payne

Over South Alabama there were widely scattered storms.

NWS has posted these statements:

* A Significant Weather Advisory for Cullman County until 7:15
* A Flood Advisory for Lamar County until 8:15. This is mainly for NE Lamar County including Sulligent. One to two inches of rain has already fallen and another one to two inchges is possible.

That long curved line (shall we call it a broad arc) of showers and thunderstorms has swirled inland many miles since early this afternoon when they were down south.

At 6:55 pm, the long curved line extended from Greenville, Miss., on the Mighty Mississippi, to north of Tupelo and then into NW Alabama’s Colbert County and down to near Cullman and all the way down to Sylacauga. Still a northward movement.

NWS, Huntscille continues a “Significant Weather Alert for Morgan County until 7:30

South of the Birmingham area there is not much going on.

I may have spoken a little too soon about the storms going downhill this evening.

First, a decent cluster of storms is moving from St. Clair County into eastern Jefferson County. Place like Moody, Leeds and Trussville will see heavy rain, lots of lightning and some gusty winds from this activity.

Storms have built over northern Bibb County as that outflow boundary intersected the storms over southwestern Jefferson and western Shelby Counties. Lots of heavy rain and lightning just south of I-59 between Caffee Junction and Vance.

Lots of heavy rain and lightning over a widespread area encompassing southwestern Chilton County near and south of Maplesville. Heavy rain between Mapleville and Centreville on US-82. This activity may intensity some over southeastern Bibb County and storms come down from northern Chilton and northern Bibb Counties. Areas near and east of Centreville will get some very heavy rain and lightning.

There are some heavy storms around Anniston and just southeast of Heflin.

Western Alabama activity has died down.

HOW ALABAMA LOOKS AT 6:30 PM

…..in NW Alabama a line of heavy showers across Fayette and Winston County.

…..Area of showers and raining over most of the area from Marion and Lawrence County north and eastward to Huntsville, Guntersville and Albertville

…..A very narrow line of moderate to heavy showers from the NE corner of Chilton County, in the center of Alabama, northeastward along the Shelby/Talladega County to West Calhoun County.

Everything moving generally east and northeast.

RAIN AMOUNTS
1.31 at Bear Creek, in NE Marion County (NW Alabama)
3.68 at Haleyville near the Marion/Winston County line
1.91 at Bessemer. Sky Watcher Jeff Drake says that is the total since Friday

COMING SOON
We will post some high temperatures and rain amounts from around the state later this evening.

* A good part of West Central and Central Alabama received some very nice rain amounts overnight especially between midnight and daybreak and even into mid morning today. Scroll down to see some of the amounts on Jason’s earlier post.

Here are some additional amounts and some of this rain was late yesterday and last evening:

0.78 Sylacauga
0.47 Centreville
1.08 Calera
0.17 Shelby County Airport
1.73 Wilsonville
1.43 Logan Martin Dam
0.76 Ensley (Avenue W at Village Creek)
1,64 Holt Lock and Dam
2.15 Selden Lock and Dam
1.30 Demopolis Lock and Dam
0.91 Livingston at the Sucarnoochee River gage

Late this morning the rain event was mostly scattered light rain over a number of Central Alabama Counties. But there will be plenty more rain as the day goes on and tonight. We are still overloaded with very warm tropical air with a high moisture content.

AT THE BEACH
A 50% to 70% chance of showers and thunderstorms every day through at least next Tuesday including Gulf Shores, Dauphin Island, Orange Beach and Destin. High temperatures consistently in the lower 90s.

ALABAMA SPOTLIGHT–Anniston
(We will do a series of these as time and space permits)
Don’t know how many of you have been to Anniston. It is nestled in the mountains of East Alabama and sort of a gateway to Cheaha State Park. In my humble opinion it is one of the most beautiful locations in Alabama. Natural beauty is tops! Here is some weather data based on numbers at Anniston Airport:
High yesterday 94
Rain last 24 hours 0.03
Total August so far 1.75
Total since June 1 8.43
Total year to date 32.03
Deficiency this year 4.16
Average high temperature is 90 for August 20
Record high for this date 102 in 1983
Sunset today 7:23 CDT
IN THE PAST: Did you know that at one time the U.S. Weather Bureau has a full service presence in Anniston. It was closed many years ago and at least one of the forecasters was transferred to USWB, Birmingham Airport.

USA EXTREMES
Hottest Thursday was 116 in Death Valley. “But it is a dry heat” everyone explains. Nevertheless, just hope that your car does not break down in a remote part of that country in summer. Dehydration and heat stroke would be just around the corner. The only time in my life that I have almost fainted was a long non-stop drive from the Salt Lake Valley to west of Grand Junction, Colo., one day. It was not too hot (in the 80s) but the dew points along the way were around 5 degrees. Had the windows down because AC on my car had failed. Finally pulled over in a small town and my wife ran and bought me a milk shake while I lay across the seat. It perked me up immediately and probably prevented a heat stroke. Saying all that to urge everyone to stay well hydrated in our current heat wave.
By the way the USA cold spot this morning was again Stanley, Idaho with a sub-freezing 30. I love that place!

This post is way too long, so I am outta here.

In the heat and humidity that is covering Alabama like a wet blanket, scattered thunderstorms were developing over extreme north and NW this afternoon. The strongest storms were over NW Alabama over Colbert and Franklin Counties. Plenty of lightning with these and also heavy rain.

Because the storms are moving SE at a mere 5 mph, they have time to dump heavy rain on the communities in their path.

NWS/Huntsville posted a Significant Weather Advisory for those two counties. That is short of a severe thunderstorm warning.

Other storms were located near Decatur and north of Ft. Payne.

A SAMPLING OF 2:00 P.M. TEMPERATURES
…..97 Gadsden with a heat index of 103.
…..95 Huntsville, heat index 102.
…..95 Tuscaloosa, heat index 101
…..95 Birmingham, heat index 99
…..98 Maxwell Air Force Base (Montgomery), heat index 106.

The weekly Crop Progress and Condition Report issued each Monday afternoon by the U.S Department of Agriculture, Alabama Field Office, Montgomery had this analysis of the current top soil moisture:

TOP SOIL MOISTURE
…..21% of the state reported very short moisture
…..52% was rated as short
…..27% was adequate
…..0% of the state had surplus

The scattered showers and thunderstorms across the state last week provided little relief from the increased dryness. The last U.S. Drought Monitor on August 5 listed Alabama as being 64 percent abnormally dry, 22.5 percent moderately dry leaving 35.8 percent of the state with no drought.

LIVESTOCK
Only 6% was in poor condition, none very poor, 86% was fair to good and 8% in excellent condition.

PASTURE AND RANGE LAND
5% very poor condition
27% poor condition
37% fair condition
27% good condition
4% excellent condition

LATE NOTE AT 1:24 PM: The SPC has issued a mesoscale discussion for the northwestern part of Alabama saying that storms are expected to intensify over this region in the next couple of hours, with heavy rain and isolated damaging wind gusts possible. Be alert.

A couple of showers were starting to break out over Northwest and North Central Alabama at this hour.  They were located over southern Lawrence, Winston and Cullman Counties.   They were moving south southeast.

The rest of Alabama is clear this hour except for the southeastern corner of the state, which is close to the remnant low of TD Five, which is located over southwestern Georgia as it moves back toward the rejuvenating waters of the Gulf of Mexico.   Look for it to be a story this week as it skirts of the northern Gulf Coast heading westward.  There is a chance that it will regain tropical cyclone status this week before it moves back inland over Louisiana.  Hopefully it will move back up into Mississippi and give us better rain chances later in the week ahead.

For this afternoon, hot and humid conditions will continue with highs topping out in  the lower and middle 90s.  Rain coverage should be about 40%.  Be alert if any storms head your way, as they will contain lots of lightning and torrential rains.

The warning for Cullman County has ben canceled. Storms just west of Cullman have weakened a bit but remain quite strong.

A broken line of storms now extends from Jackson and DeKalb Counties in Northeast Alabama through Cullman, Winston, Walker and over into Lamar Counties.

Heavy storms extend from south of Tuscaloosa through much of Greene County into northern Marengo County

More storms are over southern Tennessee poised to enter North Alabama.

Be alert for torrential rains, deadly lightning and the threat of isolated damaging winds this afternoon

A broad band of showers extends from Marion to Pickens Counties in the west through Walker, Fayette and Tuscaloosa Counties  into Blount and St. Clair Counties over to Talladega, Tallapoosa, Chambers and Lee Counties in the east.

The highest concentration of showers extended from near Talladega to near Opelika.

Not seeing any lightning yet, but some of the tops are approaching 30,000 feet, so it probably won’t be long.

The showers are increasing in intensity and coverage slowly.

Showers and a few storms will continue through the remainder of the afternoon and will likely increase overnight tonight.  Keeping our fingers crossed for some beneficial rains on Sunday across much of the area.

The blog is back up and running after an extended outage with our server.

overall, the activity has gone downhill in the past hour, but there is still some active weather.

The main weather is now over Cullman and Blount Counties. I think we will see an intensification of storms around Oneonta over the next 30 minutes as storms near Springville interact with the storms coming down from near Cleveland.

But storms over Bibb county, were translating into Shelby County where boundary intersections were occurring near Calera.

Most of the active weather has been over the southern two thirds of Alabama this afternoon, much as we had expected.

The strongest storm in the state right now is probably the one over Lowndes County, where tops briefly registered to nearly 60,000 feet. It is near Fort Deposit and is moving toward Greenville.

We still have a severe thunderstorm warning for Macon County, for that storm near Shorter.

The storm west of Selma in Dallas County is fairly strong as well.

The storm south of Auburn has grown and is approaching Hurtsboro.

Finally, a decent storm in southwestern Chilton County near Maplesville.

Just a few small showers over northeastern Tuscaloosa and western Jefferson County as this hour. They’re aren’t amounting to much. They are part of a struggling line of isolated showers that extends back to near Columbus MS, apparently on the boundary of the dier air aloft that has invaded the northeastern third of the state.

Everything is pushing off to the south.

99F last hour at the Tuscaloosa Airport. It was 93F at KBHM. Montgomery had cooled to 81F.

Showers and storms are going generally downhill across Alabama early this evening.

Storms are strong in the Pelham/Alabaster area of Shelby County. It is moving northwest toward the Helena and McCalla areas. These storms will likely intensify further when they encounter an outflow boundary moving south near I-459.

Some heavy rain continues at this hour is over southern Lamar and Pickens Counties in West Alabama. Decent storms are over Autauga County moving up toward Chilton County.

There are

Very little action across the west half of Alabama. However there is a small but heavy shower in the center of Pickens County in West Central Alabama. Moving slowly NE.

Most of the showers have shifted over into Northeast Alabama. The heaviest shower in that area was over the NE corner of Cherokee County on the border of Georgia. The entire shower will be in Georgia soon.

Not much going on Central and South Alabama. Lets look at some official highs around the state today from the hourly reporting stations:

82 Muscle Shoals
81 Haleyville where there was lots of rain
91 Huntsville
87 Decatur
91 Gadsden
92 Tuscaloosa
93 Birmingham
95 Montgomery
91 Shelby County Airport
89 Greenville
92 Anniston
93 Auburn
91 Mobile
92 Dothan
91 Troy
92 Fairhope
91 Andalusia
92 Pinson

ELSEWHERE
100 Little Rock
104 Phoenix
102 Austin
83 Baton Rouge with 2.25 inches of rain
73 Baltimore and Atlantic City (how nice!!)

USA EXTREMES
28 this morning at Charleston, Nev. (four degrees below freezing!)
119 this afternoon in Death Valley

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
641 PM CDT FRI AUG 6 2010

ALZ024-070030-
JEFFERSON AL-
641 PM CDT FRI AUG 6 2010

…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY UNTIL
730 PM CDT…

AT 641 PM CDT…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING A STRONG
THUNDERSTORM NEAR SYLVAN SPRINGS…OR NEAR HUEYTOWN…MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM…ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE…
FAIRFIELD…
BESSEMER…
HOMEWOOD…
VESTAVIA HILLS…
HOOVER…

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA…TAKE SHELTER IN A
STURDY BUILDING.

TORRENTIAL RAIN…WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND
UNDERPASSES…IS ALSO LIKELY. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ON A FLOODED
ROADWAY.

All severe thunderstorms warnings for West Alabama have now been canceled. Moderate rain continues from Lamar through Pickens and Sumter Counties.

Thunderstorms continue near York, Livingston and Cuba in Sumter County. They are pushing south southwest.

We should be good to go for the rest of the night with no additional severe weather.

It turned out to be a busy day across West Alabama with several severe thunderstorm warnings and scattered reports of wind damage. Fortunately, I have heard of no injuries.

Thanks to ABC 33/40 Skywatcher Kristie Calvin in North Pole, Alaska for these images… she writes…

“Hi James:

I awoke this morning around 2:00 and saw the most incredible display of the Aurora Borealis. It was active for well over an hour. In fact, I went back to bed before they disappeared. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

God bless!”

Thanks to a number of our readers who sent in these images of the morning sky over Alabama… great rainbows and sunrise scenes!

The ABC 33/40 Weather Watcher for Bessemer, Jeff Drake, reports 1.35 inches of rain in only an hour and 15 minutes from a thunderstorm, or maybe a combo of storms, which formed and built right over him and stayed over the Bessemer area over an hour before finally drifting off to the SE. Because of that downpour, the temperature plunged from 92 to 75.

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORIES
* Talladega and Shelby Counties until 5:30
* Calhoun County until 5:00 p.m.
* Southern St. Clair County until 5:15
* South Chambers County until 5:00 p.m.

Here we go with a list of low temperatures this morning and some notes from all over the place:

ALABAMA
59 Grantley (lowest since last April 27
61 Valley Head, Crossville
62 Cullman Airport
63 Munford
64 Haleyville, Decatur, Fort Payne Airport
65 Bessemer,Anniston, Pinson,
66 Coker, Muscle Shoals, Huntsville, Gadsden Airport, Troy
67 north of Fayette, Evergreen
68 Center Point, Collinsville, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery, Greenville, Albertville
69 Shelby County Airport, Maxwell AFB, Mobile Regional Airport
70 Auburn, Dothan

ANNISTON
The high at Anniston Airport has been 90 or higher every day this month except for 88 on the 14th. Twelve of those days had 95 or higher. In contrast, it was a pleasant 65 for a low this morning. A welcome change.

GREAT NEWS FOR DALLAS
After highs well above 100 for days on end, the high at DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth Airport) was “only” 97 yesterday.

YESTERDAY’S HEAT COUNTRY
101 Corpus Christi
106 Las Vegas
103 San Antonio
105 Waco
111 Phoenix
119 Death Valley

COOL NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS
51 this morning on Mt. Mitchell
53 Beech Mountain, Boone, Jefferson
54 Banner Elk

USA EXTREMES
119 yesterday Death Valley
28 this AM at West Yellowstone, Mont., (west entrance to YNP)
32 Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska

And soon there will be the familiar sound of thunder thrown in for good measure.

At 1:40 pm, the best collection of showers included Tuscaloosa and East Pickens County in West Central Alabama.

A lone shower was producing heavy rain at Jasper.

Widely scattered showers were over Northeast and Extreme North Alabama and also over Southeast Alabama. Favored movement seems to be from the NE toward the SW. The morning upper air sounding from Shelby County Airport suggested that activity today would be moving from 43 degrees at 12 knots. That is only a guide but it means from the NE at about 14 mph.

The LI (Lifted Index) this morning was a bit lower than -4. For many years, -4 has been a benchmark for possible severe thunderstorms. It is one of the oldest indicators. That is only one indicator. Many others have to be considered.

The Storm Prediction Center does not have any part of Alabama under even a “slight risk” today. But we all know, after what seems like a thousand years experience, that during a heat wave like we have been having, that some of the thunderstorms can’t wait to misbehave and shoot sharp lightning bolts at us. And, they love to uproot trees!

We have a noisy thunderstorm that just don’t want to quit late tonight. At the ghostly hour of midnight it was centered along the Shelby/St. Clair County line. It was crossing I-20 near Leeds and headed toward the NW into East Jefferson,

It will dump heavy rain in places like Trussville and even into the Downtown Birmingham Area. Dangerous lightning and torrential rain will be an issue.

Thanks to ABC 33/40 Skywatcher Brandon Harris for these images taken near Jacksonville tonight… he writes:

“Hey James…

Here’s 3 shots from tonight. Wish we had gotten more rain out of these storms.

Thanks!”

Thanks to Sgt. Andy Norris of the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s department for this image captured this evening in Northport…

A band of moderate to heavy rain continues from Decatur to Hanceville to Oneonta to Lincoln to Lineville.

Jb reported heavy rain downtown Trussville a short while ago with some street flooding.

The heaviest rain is near Ashland and Lineville. Some more heavy rain is between Springville and Ashville.

The individual showers are moving northwest. The band is spreading slowly northward

Some lighter showers are over West Alabama.

Thanks to Petty Officer Neil Eubanks for this image… he writes…

“James,

My name is Neil Eubanks, I used to live in Hokes Bluff Alabama, but now I work for the U.S. Coast Guard in Jacksonville Florida. The picture I have attached is of a cloud that appeared here in Jacksonville last month while I was on duty attending to evening colors. The cloud has a likeness of the late Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant wearing his traditional hounds tooth hat. I am an Univ. of Alabama football fan and thought I would share this photo with you so you may share it with others on your blog or evening news cast.”

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER: Today’s weather should offer a good clue as to what you can expect on daily basis for the rest of the week. Highs [...] - [Read more]

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. GENERALLY DRY WEATHER FOR A WHILE: The overall weather pattern for our state sure looks dry for the next two weeks. Today will feature a [...] - [Read more]

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
639 PM CDT FRI AUG 6 2010

ALZ023-034-070030-
BIBB AL-TUSCALOOSA AL-
639 PM CDT FRI AUG 6 2010

…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN TUSCALOOSA AND WESTERN
BIBB COUNTIES UNTIL 730 PM CDT…

AT 639 PM CDT…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING A STRONG
THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF LOW GAP…OR 13 MILES SOUTH OF
HOLT…MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM…ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE…
LOW GAP…
EOLINE…
HAGLER…
PEARSON…
HARMON…

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA…TAKE SHELTER IN A
STURDY BUILDING.

TORRENTIAL RAIN…WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND
UNDERPASSES…IS ALSO LIKELY. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ON A FLOODED
ROADWAY.

Showers and storms are forming over the southern half of Alabama on this Sunday afternoon.

The one furthest north was just south of I-59 between Brookwood and Vance at 2 p.m. This storm was small but it had grown to a height of over 50,000 feet. It is pushing south. It contains heavy rain and lightning. Derek in Coaling reports nearly constant thunder.

Temperatures were climbing through the 90s over the area. Tuscaloosa was already up to 95F.

Very hot temperatures will be the norm over the next few days as drier air infiltrates the state. By Tuesday, we will see dewpoints in the lower 60s and perhaps even 50s! Much less humid! Unfortunately, it won’t be cooler in the daytime, although overnight lows may dip into the 50s. Afternoon readings in the upper 90s will be common the next couple of days.

The storm over Marion County has become quite strong, with tops over 50,000 feet.

It is passing just east of Winfield, near Glen Allen and Bazemore to near Eldridge.

Another storm is near Hamilton.

Everything is moving south and will impact Fayette County.

In  the Birmingham area, strong storms are lined up along I-65 from Kimberly and Morris to Fultondale, to just east of downtown Birmingham to Hoover, Pelham and west of Columbiana.  The storms over Shelby County are quite strong as well.

Be alert for torrential rains and deadly lightning from these storms.

Strong storms continue from Hamilton to Guin to northwest of Fayette. They are moving south. Look out for heavy rain and deadly lightning.

UPDATE: an area flood advisory has been issued for Tuscaloosa County.

Several storms cover eastern Tuscaloosa County as well. They will affect the Northport and Tuscaloosa areas.

A severe thunderstorm warning continues for Lamar County for the storm coming out of Marion County. It will affect much of Lamar County over the next hour.

The other big storm is in the Guin area of Marion County. The NWS just issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Fayette, Lamar, Pickens [AL] till 8:00 PM CDT It is about to impact Winfield and will move into Fayette County very shortly. This storm will affect the City of Fayette around 7:45 p.m.

Big lightning, heavy rains and damaging winds likely with these storms. There was wind damage reported in Hamilton as the storms pushed south.

Storms have intensified over Walker County from Jasper down to Oakman as well…power lines were just reported down near Jasper…

REPORTS

Tim Rye Hamilton AL: Got around 1 inch of rain and a wind gust of 42 mph during the thunderstorm that just came through at my house just west of downtown Hamilton

5 N Sulligent [Lamar Co, AL] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND DMG at 06:45 PM CDT — trees down off state highway 17.

EARLIER FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY
3 Ne Hueytown [Jefferson Co, AL] amateur radio reports TSTM WND DMG at 05:10 PM CDT — tree down. power lines down along Entrance Fan Foad. whole subdivision with power out.

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here. WET AT TIMES: The old tropical low, formerly known as tropical depression five, is making the second landfall in it’s short life this morning over [...] - [Read more]

TROPICAL TOTE BOARD: Five named storms so far in the North Atlantic basin this hurricane season. Two of them have become hurricanes; one has achieved major hurricane status.

GULF LOW: The NHC mentions a low chance that the low along the Louisiana coast could become a tropical depression today before moving onshore. Don’t look for that to happen, but the low is bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the northern Gulf Coast.

DANIELLE:   Danielle was downgraded to a category two hurricane this morning and now features top winds of 110 mph.   The center is 330 miles southeast of Bermuda at late morning.  The hurricane is now moving north northeast at 9 mph as it begins to recurve.   By Tuesday, it will lose its tropical characteristics and then lose its way, meandering northwestward back toward Greenland.   Bermuda has missed the worst from Danielle.

FROM THE BERMUDA WEATHER SERVICE:   “Winds and squally showers will increase this afternoon as Danielle passes about 250nm to our east. Large swells have also developed along South Shore. Conditions are expected to ease overnight, then high pressure, building in from the northwest on Sunday, brings settled conditions for the start of the week.”

EARL:  Our eyes now turn to the second in our current string of storms.   Earl is 850 miles east southeast of St. Martin in the Virgin Islands at late morning, moving west northwest at 18 mph.  Top winds are up to 60 mph.   The official forecast carries Earl close to the northern Leeward Islands around Antigua and the Virgin Islands on Monday.  Then by Thursday, Earl will be a major hurricane and be roaming somewhere between  the Bahamas and Bermuda, so everyone will be nervously waiting its future moves.  The Hurricane Hunters will investigate Earl tonight.

FIONA? A large percentage of the hurricanes that form in the eastern Atlantic recurve out to sea. But the more hurricanes that line up, the worse our odds become. Don’t look now, but the embryonic Fiona is likely to be classified as a tropical depression today over the eastern Atlantic. There is not a clear picture of what will happen to the eventual Fiona. It could quite possibly follow Danielle and Earl out to sea. Or it could threaten the islands of the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast.

DON’T LOOK NOW: But this train of disturbances off of Africa will continue for the next few weeks, and we will continue to see more hurricanes. Gaston is probably waiting in the wings in one of the strong disturbances coming across the African continent right now.

Breaking wildfire news coming out of central Florida locations this evening. Several large wildfires have closed I-95, and are threatening homes and business’s at this time. Some homes have already been overtaken by flames, as very strong winds, dry ground conditions, and low humidity’s help fuel the fires into more populated regions of Brevard County. Hundreds are being asked to evacuate, and many roads are closed due to heavy smoke. Some residents refusing to leaving and staying to fight with garden hoses, to protect their homes and property. A very dangerous situation setting up in Central Florida tonight.

The second half of April through mid May now, have been extremely dry in Florida. Record high temperatures over the weekend, brought readings into the lower and mid 90’s under gusty dry hot winds. Although a weak cold front is moving through the state tonight, it will actually only help to fuel the wildfire even more with very low humidity levels, and gusty northerly winds on Tuesday. Most of the active fires in and around Palm Bay, Melbourne, Daytona Beach and Malabar, are expected to continue overnight and into Tuesday.

WeatherPress is en-route to Brevard County Florida to cover the wildfires in more detail, so be sure to check back here for the latest videos and pictures.

Just what we needed in Alabama. A rain event that covered most or all of the state during the last three days. An added plus was that a good part of the rain was a slow steady rain that allowed almost all of it to soak in. However, there was also some thunderstorms thrown into the mix that dumped some heavy rain. Even a few trees down.

This is a list of amounts just in the 24 hours ending this morning with a few notes about two-day totals. This is not an all-inclusive list. We may add some reports later if time permits:

1.42 Decatur Airport
0.76 Huntsville Airport
0.18 Muscle Shoals
0.18 in Bankhead National Forest
0.28 Courtland
0.43 Crossville
1.92 Cullman Ag Station
0.72 Guntersville
0.17 Muscle Shoals/TVA
0.26 Russellville
0.01 Scottsboro (but they did not need rain as much)
0.33 Birmingham Airport
0.88 Anniston Airport
0.35 Shelby County Airport (home of NWS/BHM)
0.81 Mobile Regional Airport
1.62 Montgomery/Dannelly Field
1.61 Tuscaloosa Airport
0.67 Pinson
0.60 Dothan
1.09 Coker (West Tuscaloosa County, with 4.83 month to date)
0.29 Lookout Mountain near Collinsville (5.55 Month to date)
0.32 Weaver
2.50 Springville
0.98 Pleasant Grove
1.23 Downtown Trussville (1.81 2-day) (Chuck Biddinger)
1.42 South Trussville (Bill Murray)

OTHER NOTES
…..Tired ole thermometer did not get out of the 70s Sunday at Anniston, Huntsville and Muscle Shoals! After all the day-after-day 90s and even some 100+
…..Up to three inches of snow was expected over the weekend in Glacier National Park in NW Montana. Have not heard if the forecast was correct.

USA 24 HOUR EXTREMES
104 Bullhead City, Ariz. (probably no report from Death Valley)
27 this morning at Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

A GEOGRAPHY NOTE
The good ole USA covers 3,539,341 square miles and the highest point is Mt. McKinley in Alaska at 20,320 feet. Compare that with Alabama’s highest elevation, Mt. Cheaha at 2,407 feet! (My second love is photography and geography)

CHECKING ON COLIN: Tropical Storm Colin has held on by a thread today, despite wind shear. The storm remained stationary much of the day, before resuming a northward motion this evening. Tropical storm force winds will reach the island early Sunday morning. Colin is expected to gain slightly in intensity as it moves north and then northeast, but shouldn’t exceed a maximum strength of 50 mph. It will pass south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland over the next two and one half days.

ELSEWHERE IN THE TROPICS: The disturbance 1,500 miles east northeast of the Lesser Antilles continues to look good on satellite pictures and will likely become a tropical depression soon. It has achieved a fairly high latitude now, and recurvature into the open Atlantic looks likely.

The disturbance in the western Caribbean moved onto the Yucatan earlier today. It will emerge into the southwestern Gulf, but significant development looks unlikely.

Just another reminder lightning is frightening… thanks to Bo Arthur for this video. He writes…

“James,

My name is Bo Arthur and I live in Leesburg, AL on Lookout Mountain Monday night around 8:30 my wife and I were sitting in our living room and heard a large boom outside after lightning had struck. We thought it hit the house but there was no smoke or damage so we went to bed. The next morning while mowing the yard I saw what looked to be rocks on top of my mailbox and assumed kids had laid them up there as a joke. So as I got closer and looked at my mailbox i noticed there was a large hole and below the brick I opened my mailbox to find a huge dent in the top. I believe that it was lightning that hit my mailbox. Check out the attached video and see what you think.

This is the 3rd strike between our neighbors house and mine. I do not know what attracts the lightning but I think it is odd for it to hit in the same area in three months. I like to think that I am living right but i am beginning ti doubt myself. We Love abc3340 and watch you every day!!! ”

You can tell from these reports that Earl is not as dangerous as a day or so ago. However, he can still cause a lot of problems:

…..Washington, DC…cloudy, wind NE 8
…..Norfolk, light rain, wind north gusts 25
…..Ocean City, Md., cloudy, wind north gusts 29
…..Cape Hatteras, N.C., steady, moderate rain, wind NW gusts 43
…..Philadelphia, cloudy, wind NE 9
…..Atlantic City, cloudy, wind north 13
…..Nantucket Buoy, wind ESE 6, six foot waves and 7 foot swells
…..Long Island Buoy, wind NE gusts 20, nine foot waves
…..Cape Henry, Va., wind NNW, gusts 42
…..Chesapeake Light, wind north 43, gusts 47
…..Buoy 64 NM east of Virginia Beach, 21 foot waves at 15 second intervals
…..Diamond Shoals, N.C., wind WNW gusts 47, with 14 foot waves
…..New York City, cloud, wind light and variable averaging 5 mph

…..Hilton Head Island, sunny, wind north 12, gusts 21

…..Myrtle Beach…..Sunny, north sustained 17 mph

…..Cape Lookout, N.C., wind NE 27, gusts 33

…..Buoy 41010, wind NW 25, gusts 34, 13-foot waves

…..Cape Hatteras, cloudy, wind east 13, gusts 24

…..Buoy 300 NM south of Myrtle Beach (345 land miles) water temperature 84, (hurricanes love that)…wind NW 26, gusts 34, 13 foot waves at 13 second intervals

…..West Bermuda buoy No. 41048, wind ESE, gusts 30, waves 13 feet at 13 second intervals

…..Buoy 41001, 150 NM miles east Cape Hatteras, wind east at 30 mph, 16 foot waves occurring every nine seconds. Sea surface temperature 82

Thanks to George Ponder for these images… he writes:

“James…

I took these last night about 10:30pm when a thunderstorm came across the mouth of Mobile Bay and ran just off shore from Ft. Morgan. A lot of the strikes were rain wrapped and oddly put off a blueish purple hue.”

BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM COLIN ADVISORY NUMBER 7
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042010
500 PM AST THU AUG 05 2010

…REMNANTS OF COLIN REGENERATE AND BECOME A TROPICAL STORM ONCE
AGAIN….

SUMMARY OF 500 PM AST…2100 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————-
LOCATION…24.9N 66.3W
ABOUT 520 MI…835 KM S OF BERMUDA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…45 MPH…75 KM/HR
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NW OR 325 DEGREES AT 20 MPH…32 KM/HR
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…1009 MB…29.80 INCHES

WATCHES AND WARNINGS
——————–
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY…

THE GOVERNMENT OF BERMUDA HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR
BERMUDA.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT…

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR…
* BERMUDA

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 36 HOURS.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA…PLEASE MONITOR
PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
——————————
AT 500 PM AST…2100 UTC…THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM COLIN WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 24.9 NORTH…LONGITUDE 66.3 WEST. COLIN IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 20 MPH…32 KM/HR. A GRADUAL TURN
TOWARD THE NORTH AND A DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED ARE EXPECTED
DURING THE NEXT 48 HR.

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE
THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 45 MPH…75 KM/HR…WITH
HIGHER GUSTS. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS EXPECTED TONIGHT AND
FRIDAY…WITH SLOW STRENGTHENING FORECAST FRIDAY NIGHT AND
SATURDAY.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES…165 KM
FROM THE CENTER.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1009 MB…29.80 INCHES.

HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
———————-
WINDS…TROPICAL STORM-FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO SPREAD OVER
BERMUDA WITHIN THE NEXT 36 HOURS.

NEXT ADVISORY
————-
NEXT INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY…800 PM AST.
NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY…1100 PM AST.

Colin is alive and well again as a tropical storm… it will be close to Bermuda, but is no threat to the U.S. mainland… WTNT34 KNHC 060259 TCPAT4 BULLETIN TROPICAL STORM COLIN ADVISORY NUMBER 9 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042010 1100 PM AST THU AUG 05 2010 …COLIN CONTINUES TO MOVE TOWARD BERMUDA… [...] - [Read more]

Scattered showers started developing before sunrise from Birmingham south toward the Gulf Coast, and a batch of light to moderate showers will continue to move north from near Evergreen and Selma toward Chilton, Shelby, Jefferson, Blount and Cullman Counties.

Clouds and light rain won’t let the sun through to warm us up much, so don’t expect much of a change from yesterday. Temperatures will probably top out in the middle 80s at best once the light showers shift west of Birmingham this afternoon, so enjoy one more “cooler” day before the heat gets cranked back up by the middle of the week!

Here’s the updated forecast.

Be sure to scroll down and see JB’s rainfall round-up from the weekend!

Follow me on Twitter: @simpson3340

-Jason

As the 2008 hurricane season fast approaches, and with all the news headlines of the extremely deadly Cyclone Nargis, in Yangon, Myanmar’s, it’s hard to ignore it’s time to begin preparing. The death toll from the Cyclone has now reach close to 100,000 people and thousands still missing. Most of the deaths are due to the 12-15 foot deadly storm surges that flooded over a extremely large area of Yangon, Myanmar’s. This is why it’s stressed each season here in the United States about, if your asked to evacuate due to living close to the water and expected landfall, you should do so as requested.

Hurricane Storm Surge Can Kill

Whether it be a Cyclone in the Indian Ocean, or a Typhoon in the Northwest Pacific or a Hurricane here in the Atlantic basin, they all can produce significant and deadly storm surge flood waters. In 2005, myself along with some of my fellow Hurricane Chasers watched as Hurricane Katrina’s 25-30 foot storm surge came blasting into the coast of Mississippi. It was a very sobering sight to not only witness, but survive to tell about.

The surge waters in Katrina came in like a large wall of water, smashing into coastal builds, Casino’s and boat yards. The water was filled with automobiles, boats, homes, and everything you can think of was likely floating in the surge waters. I can’t imagine all the people trying to survive the storm surge waters of the violent Cyclone Nargis. This is why it’s very important to listen to officials during threatening hurricanes.

Play It Smart, Stay In Formed and Evacuate If Need Be

There’s no leaving once the storm surge waters reach your location, so your best bet is to leave the coast well before the storm, so you don’t end up trying to climb to the roof of your structure to survive. With all the weather technology we have in the world today, especially here in the United States, there should be no reason for you to not know what’s going on with a storm, and putting yourself in a dangerous situation.

Thanks to WeatherBrains associated Kevin Selle for these images… he writes…

“Damage pics from a warehouse area on the northwest side of Dallas. Weather Service had just come by and said EF-2. Also, Julie Martin from the Weather Channel doing live shots, and a screen grab from the flooding video I shot yesterday along with a shot of the same location today.”

Damage reports coming in late tonight from Pickens and Greene Counties…

(9:36:33 PM) iembot: BMX: Ethelsville [Pickens Co, AL] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND DMG at 08:15 PM CDT — tree down on county road 30.
(9:37:49 PM) iembot: BMX: 5 N Eutaw [Greene Co, AL] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND DMG at 09:05 PM CDT — tree on house along county road 170.
(9:44:48 PM) iembot: BMX: 3 Nw Eutaw [Greene Co, AL] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND DMG at 09:15 PM CDT — trees down across road at interstate 20-59 and highway 14. also trees down at county road 131 and highway 20.

The storms are now near Livingston, moving south southwest. Severe thunderstorm warning continues until 10 p.m. for Sumter and Greene Counties.