Archive for June 10th, 2012
A Stormy Gulf Coast Is Still Beautiful
Our AlabamaWX associate and Weather Company member dropped this note today with some photos and videos from the Alabama coast.
Thought I’d send you a few quick shots I’ve taken from the Alabama coast. Colleen and I are in Fairhope, on the eastern edge of Mobile Bay. We are right on the water’s edge, and with the strong storms moving through the past couple of days, it has been quite a ride. The rains have been simply torrential at times. As I send this, winds, rain and lightning are picking up again.
The place we’re staying in is quite sturdy, but the winds from the passing storms have been so strong at times that we’ve actually felt the whole place shaking. It’s enough to confirm to us that–if this is nature’s power during storms when a non-tropical low passes through–we definitely would not want to stick around
for a hurricane. We see white caps way out into the bay. We’re so grateful to have power (and Internet!).
Here are links to three stills and two video clips I shot with my still camera; maybe this will help give an idea of how intense the storms are down here. Still image # 1 shows a much calmer scene at one point yesterday.
I shot Still # 2 earlier this morning.
I shot Videos 1 and 2 just a little while ago this morning to show the change.
Finally, Still #3 is just another reminder of the Alabama coast’s gorgeous sunsets; Colleen and I shot this from the city park at Fairhope last evening.
Thanks for sharing David!
Rain Diminishing As It Heads Northeast
Click image to enlarge
Here is a look at the Alabama weather situation as of 2:30 p.m.
Analysis of the mid levels of the atmosphere reveals our stubborn 500 mb low over Mississippi.
Showers and storms are common over Alabama. A band of heavier showers is moving northward into the Tennessee Valley. Widespread rain and storms cover the southeastern two thirds of the state, generally south and southeast of Birmingham. An arc of heavy and occasionally severe storms is approaching the Alabama/Georgia border. These heavier storms actually produce a tornado north of Geneva earlier today. A tornado watch is in effect for southeast Alabama, southwestern Georgia and northern Florida as shown in the upper left panel of the image. The SPC has the southeastern corner of Alabama outlooked in a slight risk area, along with southwestern Georgia and northern Florida.
Storms were widespread over southern Georgia, where the sun has been out, heating the atmosphere and allowing instabilities to rise.
Temperatures were in the middle 70s, except over the northwestern corner of the state, where there was a little more sunshine earlier today.
The low will weaken and lift northeastward overnight. The precipitation will diminish as we head toward the evening hours.
By Monday morning, rainfall amounts should average 1-3 inches southeast of I-59, with lighter amounts to the northwest. Further southeast, in the I-85 corridor, amounts will reach 3-5 inches. Look for highs today to top out in the upper 70s. Just a few places will hit 80F, mainly over the Northwest corner of the state.
More showers and storms will form tomorrow, but mainly along and south of I-20.
Tornado Warnings Over Southeast Alabama
Below is the tornado watch for Southeast Alabama until 7pm CDT….
Severe weather is NOT expected over the northern half of Alabama today, just lots of rain…
Tornado Reported in Southeast Alabama
The NWS in Tallahassee (responsible for Southeast Alabama) has a tornado warning in effect for parts of Geneva, Dale and Coffee Counties. Here is the warning polygon with reflectivity and strog relative velocity from the Fort Rucker Doppler.
Tornado reported by law enforcement near Chancellor.
Trees down and structural damage north of Geneva.
Tornado watch issued for Southeast Alabama, southwestern Georgia and North Florida until 7 p.m. CDT. Montgomery, Troy and Auburn are in the watch.
The SPC added this area to its severe weather outlook as a slight risk at 11:30.
Rain Pushing into Central Alabama at Late Morning
The persistent upper air disturbance located over the Lower Mississippi River Valley was producing another huge rain shield covering a large part of South Alabama as you can see in the radar image here.
The moderate to heavy rain was pushing steadily northward toward Central Alabama and promises to produce a wet afternoon for most of the area. The rain area stretched back into the Gulf of Mexico from Destin area westward to west of New Orleans. A number of flash flood warnings have been issued this morning for parishes in Southeast Louisiana.
Montgomery has picked up about a half an inch of rain this morning while Mobile has recorded another 2 inches this morning.
The rain is expected to continue moving northward spreading over Central Alabama during the noon hour and bringing rain to nearly everyone. Looks like a great afternoon to stay inside and curl up with a good book.
The rain and clouds were helping to keep temperatures down with temperatures just before 11 am running in the middle 70s – a nice byproduct of the clouds and rain which makes for a somewhat coolish June day.
Still looks like the upper air disturbance will remain in our vicinity for the next 24 to 36 hours promising a good soaking through Monday. Come Tuesday and Wednesday we should see some reduction in shower coverage and perhaps see drying by the latter part of the week.
-Brian-
