Archive for July 17th, 2012
A Variety of Weather Information, 8:30 pm Tuesday
* LIGHTNING IS FRIGHTENING: Lightning this afternoon struck a 40-year old man at his home near the intersection of Bell Factory Road and Red Rock Drive, about 5 miles SE of Moores Mill in the Madison area. He was transported to the hospital and is in critical condition. The old saying is true, “Lightning is Frightening”
RAIN AMOUNTS: (Some of these amounts are from yesterday, the rest today)
0.42 Northeast Trussville (where I hang out)
0.02 Muscle Shoals
0.15 Courtland
1.14 Tims Ford Dam
0.18 Scottsboro, West
0.31 Moulton TVA
0.26 Town Creek
0.67 Fayetteville (Tenn.)
0.27 Downtown Huntsville
0.77 New Market
0.53 Owens Crossroads
1.03 Guntersville Dam
1.58 Cross City (Fla.)
0.55 Tallahassee
0.51 Valdosta
1.54 Panama City
1.41 Ozark
1.54 Panama City
0.01 Mobile Regional Airport
1.44 St. Petersburg
0.24 Salt Lake City
0.57 Spokane
0.63 Tuscon
1.12 West Palm Beach
ANNISTON AIRPORT 2012 RAIN SCORECARD
4.07 inches so far this month
6.69 since June 1
23.23 since January 1
5.84 is the deficiency so far this year
AN OLD FRIEND IS BACK HOME
That old friend is my TV control for the nice TV that I have in my office. I am a news junkie and i HAVE to keep up with the news. While I was struggling to stay on Weather Brains Monday night, it vanished. Found it this afternoon under my chair at my desk. I had sat directly on it for 36 hours It was almost like one of my puppies escaping and finally deciding to return home
USA TEMPERATURE EXTREMES TODAY
34 at Lakeview, Ore., this morning
109 in Death Valley this afternoon
SUPER LIGHTNING DISPLAY
Got a call from my fireman son this evening. He was vacationing at Gulf Shores. He reported some of the most aweson lightning inland north of this location. THe lightning near the coast has been a real classic this afternoon.
Over and Out
East Alabama Has The Most Storms Today
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RADAR CHECK: Showers and storms are most numerous along and east of I-65 today… with some storms producing torrential rain and hail; a severe thunderstorm warning was required earlier for parts of Clay and Randolph Counties. Storms are moving to the south around the circulation of an upper low over North Florida, which is enhancing the storms over the eastern side of the state today.
As you might expect, temperatures are all over the board. At mid-afternoon you have Gadsden at 75… while Tuscaloosa is 21 degrees warmer with 96. Must be a summer day in Alabama.
REST OF THE WEEK: With the upper low just to the east, and a deep layer of tropical moisture over the state, we expect scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms tomorrow through Friday. Highs will be close to 90, and like today, a few heavy downpours and strong storms are possible, if not likely in the tropical air with the ULL nearby.
WEEKEND PEEK: Showers and storms should become a little fewer in number Saturday and Sunday with rising heights and a more stable airmass. Look for classic summer weather… partly sunny days and the risk of scattered, mostly afternoon and evening showers and storms Saturday and Sunday. Expect a high in the low 90s both days.
Similar weather can be expected for at least the first half of next week.
GULF COAST WEATHER: Expect scattered to numerous showers and storms for Panama City and Destin tonight through Thursday, with the storms more scattered for Pensacola and Gulf Shores. Then, for all of the Central Gulf Coast about 6 to 8 hours of sunshine Friday through Sunday with the routine scattered thunderstorms you expect on summer days. Highs will be in the upper 80s on the immediate coast, and the sea water temperature at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab this afternoon is a toasty 89 degrees.
TROPICS: All is quiet across the Atlantic basin and tropical storm formation is not expected through the end of the week.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 90 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. Scroll down for the show notes on the new episode we recorded last night.
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Look for the next Weather Xtreme video here by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow…
Severe Thunderstorm Warning : Clay and Randolph Counties 3:30
The storm over southeastern Clay County has really intensified and shows good signs of quarter size hail and has the potential to produce damaging winds of 60 mph.
The storm is just southeast of Lineville, over Cragford. It is moving south.
It will impact areas including Malone, Almond and Wadley.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR…
SOUTHEASTERN CLAY COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…
SOUTHWESTERN RANDOLPH COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA…
* UNTIL 330 PM CDT
* AT 251 PM CDT…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL…AND DAMAGING
WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR LAKE
WEDOWEE…AND MOVING SOUTH AT 5 MPH.
* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE…
MALONE…WADLEY…R.L. HARRIS DAM…CRAGFORD…MELLOW VALLEY AND
MOTLEY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
FOR YOUR PROTECTION…MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF
YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
Strong Storms
Click to enlarge image. Clockwise from top left, radar reflectivity from the lowest tilt, composite reflectivity, storm tops, vertically integrated liquid.
The storm over southeastern Chilton and northwestern Elmore counties is very close to becoming severe this afternoon.
It is showing signs of producing damaging winds and some hail. The damaging wind threat is the greater of the two threats. Lots of dangerous lightning and torrential rains as well.
The strongest part of the storm is between Verbena and Rockford pushing south or southeast at 15 mph.
Elsewhere, some strong storms are over northern St. Clair County between Ashville and Ragland. They have peaked and are weakening now.
Slight Risk Introduced for Southeast Alabama
The SPC has posted a “slight risk” severe weather outlook for the southeastern quarter of Alabama. This is their standard lowest end severe weather forecast, indicating that there is a possibility of organized severe weather. That is in the upper left panel of the graphic. Click to enlarge it.
They just also added a mesoscale discussion, which is their heads up that a watch might or might not be needed. They indicate a 40% chance they might issue a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of SE Alabama, SW Georgia and North Florida. That is in the left middle panel.
The airmass over the region is becoming highly unstable and there is a small amount of capping that will keep a lid on things for awhile. Wind shear is very low though, so storms will generally be of the summertime pulse variety, quickly developing and then raining themselves out. Watch out for damaging winds with all of the heavy precipitation being suspended aloft, then crashing to earth.
A couple of isolated showers are forming across Central Alabama, a sign of things to come.
