Slowly Drying Out; A Few Peeks of Sun
The rain has been tapering off the last few hours. That is a relief as rains overnight and this morning have inundated portions of East Alabama. Flooding is ongoing and there are major concerns about river flooding along the Tallapoosa River. As this round of rain winds down, there are a few breaks in the clouds this afternoon, where we are seeing a few glimpses of sunshine. However, skies remain mostly cloudy to overcast.
A few very light scattered showers are ongoing across North-Central Alabama. The heaviest shower currently remains over East Alabama in Cleburne County. We are expecting additional showers and thunderstorms to develop later this afternoon. With the threat of additional rainfall, especially over East Alabama, the NWS maintains a flash flood watch for the areas east of Interstate 65 through Sunday afternoon.
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Flash Flood Watch Issued Through Sunday Afternoon
FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE WITH REDEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE EASTERN
HALF OF CENTRAL ALABAMA…
.AS MUCH AS 9 INCHES OF RAIN FELL OVER PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST
CENTRAL ALABAMA SINCE FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THIS RESULTED IN FLASH
FLOODING ACROSS SEVERAL COUNTIES. THE BOUNDARY…THAT WAS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRAINING OF STORMS…REMAINS ACROSS THE
NORTH AND EASTERN AREAS…SO ANY REDEVELOPMENT THIS
AFTERNOON…TONIGHT…AND SUNDAY WOULD RESULT IN MORE TRAINING OF
STORMS AND ADDITIONAL FLOODING. SATELLITE AND MODEL SOUNDING SHOW
PLENTY OF SUPPORT FOR ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AT LEAST 4 PM
SUNDAY AFTERNOON. IF ENOUGH DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN MISSISSIPPI…THIS
WATCH MAY NEED TO BE EXTENDED FURTHER WEST.
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA…EAST
CENTRAL ALABAMA…NORTHEAST ALABAMA AND SOUTHEAST ALABAMA…
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS…IN CENTRAL ALABAMA…BLOUNT…
COOSA…ELMORE…JEFFERSON…MONTGOMERY…SHELBY…ST. CLAIR
AND TALLADEGA. IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…CALHOUN…CHAMBERS…
CLAY…CLEBURNE…LEE…MACON…RANDOLPH…RUSSELL AND
TALLAPOOSA. IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA…CHEROKEE AND ETOWAH. IN
SOUTHEAST ALABAMA…BULLOCK.
* THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON
* HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS EASTERN ALABAMA HAS SATURATED THE GROUND
AND THE ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS WOULD RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING
WITH ANY ADDITIONAL REDEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING OVER AREAS ALREADY
IMPACTED BY FLOODING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD
TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.
YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.
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River Flooding Becoming a Concern
Heavy flooding rains have been falling and continue to fall across the Coosa and Tallapoosa River Basins. Significant river rises are expected but especially along the Tallapoosa river. Areas in the river basin have received up to 10 inches of rain and all that water is running off into the river. The river is under a flood warning and also due to the access water run-off, Alabama Power has decided to begin opening flood gates at Martin Dam. This will also lead to river rises below the dam and precautions need to be taken now.
GATE OPERATIONS HAVE BEGUN…
ALABAMA POWER COMPANY ADVISES THAT GATE OPERATIONS HAVE BEGUN AT
MARTIN DAM. THERE IS NOW ONE GATE OPEN.
INTERESTS DOWNSTREAM OF MARTIN DAM SHOULD STAY INFORMED OF REVISED
RIVER FORECASTS FOR THE LOWER TALLAPOOSA AND ALABAMA RIVERS.
…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A FLOOD
WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING RIVERS IN ALABAMA…
TALLAPOOSA RIVER AT WADLEY AFFECTING CHAMBERS…ELMORE…MACON…
RANDOLPH AND TALLAPOOSA COUNTIES.
.HEAVY RAINFALL OF UP TO 6 INCHES HAS FALLEN ACROSS THE TALLAPOOA RIVER
BASIN NORTH OF WADLEY. THIS HAS CREATED RISES ALONG THE RIVER…AND A FLOOD
WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FOR THE TALLAPOOSA RIVER AT WADELY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
DO NOT DRIVE CARS THROUGH FLOODED AREAS. TURN AROUND…DON’T DROWN.
ANOTHER STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED BY SUNDAY MORNING…OR SOONER IF
CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
* FLOOD WARNING FOR
THE TALLAPOOSA RIVER AT WADLEY.
* UNTIL SUNDAY AFTERNOON…OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED.
* AT 7:00 AM SATURDAY THE STAGE WAS 11 FEET.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 13 FEET.
* MODERATE FLOODING IS FORECAST.
* FORECAST…RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY THIS MORNING AND CONTINUE TO
RISE TO NEAR 21.1 FEET BY THIS EVENING. THE RIVER WILL FALL BELOW
FLOOD STAGE BY AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT .
* IMPACT…AT 20 FEET…SOME FLOODING OCCURS IN THE WADLEY AREA.
BETWEEN 22 AND 25 FEET THE BRIDGE OVER BEAVERDAM CREEK FLOODS.
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Flash Flood Warning Clay/Cleburne/Randolph til Noon
Heavy rains overnight and continued rainfall this morning have resulted in a serious flash flooding threat that is ongoing across the warned area. Numerous reports of roads that are impassable and some roads have been washed out. Rivers and stream are rapidly rising as well. Many areas have received in access of 5 inches of rain with rain still falling and this is only making conditions worse. Never drive through flooded roads…TURN AROUND, DON’T DROWN.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR…
NORTHEASTERN CLAY COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…
RANDOLPH COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…
SOUTHERN CLEBURNE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…
* UNTIL NOON CDT
* AT 855 AM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED ADDITIONAL SLOW
MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED
AREA. RAINFALL OF 4 TO 6 INCHES OCCURRED OVERNIGHT…SO ANY
RAINFALL OVER THIS AREA WILL LIKELY RESULT IN ADDITIONAL FLOODING.
* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO
OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE…
HEFLIN…LAKE WEDOWEE…WEDOWEE…ABERNATHY…BARFIELD…DELTA…
FOSTERS CROSS ROADS…MORRISON CROSS ROADS…MOUNT CHEAHA…
RANBURNE AND WOODLAND.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
FLOOD WATERS ARE MOVING DOWN THE TALLAPOOSA RIVER. PLEASE RIVER TO
THE RIVER FLOOD WARNIGN THAT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THIS LOCATION.
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY.
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Unsettled Today
An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player on the right sidebar of the blog. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.
The weather across Central Alabama remains unsettled this morning as a result of a surface convergence zone and an upper level short wave that should slowly move eastward today allowing for improving weather from the west. But for today, heavy rains along with the training of storms will present a serious flash flood issue especially for the areas east and southeast of the Birmingham area. Flash flood warnings were in effect at this writing for portions of Clay, Calhoun, and Talladega counties. Additional development of scattered storms may result in additional flash flood warnings today as the area east and southeast of Birmingham received a good soaking with thunderstorms last night. There does not appear to be a significant threat for severe weather though we will have to watch for isolated storms to become marginally severe.
The upper trough will move slowly eastward toward which should shift the threat eastward out of Alabama tonight and Sunday. As the trough shifts eastward, we come under an upper ridge, so I expect to see the weather improve for us late Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday of the coming week. The upper ridge will also warm us up some perhaps presenting us with the warmest day of 2013 as highs edge toward 90 degrees on Tuesday.
The big storm system to our west responsible for the moderate risks for severe weather in the Central Plains today and Sunday will edge closer Wednesday as moisture values increase. This will bring showers back into the forecast. As the big upper low heads into the Great Lakes area on Thursday, we will see another wet day for the Southeast US. There may be some risk for severe weather on Thursday, but at the moment, it is not a clear cut situation that is going to depend more on mesoscale features, so we’ll need to keep an eye on it.
The front should be exiting on Friday taking the storm chances with it for Alabama which means a fairly nice Saturday for next weekend. The upper flow becomes northwesterly for us, so we will see a nice drop in the warm temperatures will highs dipping back into the upper 70s.
Looking out into voodoo country, the cool pattern is in place Sunday, but begins to change with a strong upper ridge becoming established toward the end of May. But the GFS is always ready to throw a surprise our way, and it does here, too. The GFS shows a strong surface low over the Yucatan Peninsula on May 30th which moves northeastward to near Tampa, FL, on the 31st. I really suspect that the next run will probably show something different, however, should the GFS be correct in this solution, the 2013 hurricane season could get off to an early start and this low would get the name Andrea. I’m not stepping out onto this limb just yet, but it is an interesting develop and one that will be carefully watched in future runs.
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I had a great time emceeing the Relay for Life event at Thompson High School last night. The rain put a damper on things, but the spirit of the people there was great as the North Shelby group raised money for cancer research. I believe this was my third time to emcee their event, and I appreciate their invitation. The next Weather Xtreme Video will be posted by 7:30 or so on Sunday morning. Stay dry and Godspeed.
-Brian-
