Afternoon Update – Storms Here and There

Thunderstorms have erupted in the afternoon (or late morning for some) heat with a few of these thunderstorms placed within severe thunderstorm warnings. SPC has actually shifted the marginal risk for severe storms slightly south of the original issuance earlier today.

As you can see from radar, most of the storms are relatively small, but nearly all of the storms are producing a good deal of lightning strikes. Those cloud to ground strikes are the ones that can kill people, so be sure to stay alert to the presence of storms in your area – When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors! Thunderstorms were moving generally from west to east with only a slight southward component to storms over Northeast Alabama.

Most of Central Alabama was seeing temperatures in the middle and upper 90s with heat indices from as low as 96 at Huntsville to as high as 110 at Alexander City. The NWS in Birmingham has posted a heat advisory for much Central Alabama excluding a row of counties along the Alabama-Georgia line. There was also no heat advisory from the NWS in Huntsville for the Tennessee River Valley counties.

A weak upper level short wave was still expected to aide afternoon heating to produce numerous thunderstorms Sunday and Monday. The presence of more clouds and more numerous thunderstorms should give us a little relief from the heat with highs around the 90 degree mark on Sunday and Monday.

-Brian-

PS A storm moved by just south of the City of Tuscaloosa and the observation site at the airport. The temperature dropped 15 degrees from 95 to 80 while the humidity went up 20 percent. Hard to tell for sure from the hourly observation, but it appears the observation site did not get any measurable rain.

Category: Alabama's Weather