Severe weather and flooding

Another area of heavy rainfall moved across central and south Alabama last night and this morning, with the heaviest rain amounts this time in south Alabama. Total rainfall for the event so far is shown below in a map generated by the NWS River Forecast Center, using a combination of radar data and rain gauges, and below that is a map of Alabama with some measured event totals. 2.88″ in Trussville so far.

Much of northern and central Alabama has received 2-4″ of rain, with some locations over 5″. 6.62″ in Wilcox County is one of the highest amounts. Alabama Power and the US Army Corps of Engineers continues to move water through the dams and out to sea, and so far major river flooding has been kept to a minimum. Flood warnings are in effect for the Warrior River (Oliver Lake and Selden Lake), the Tombigbee River (Gainesville Lake and Bevill Lake and Coffeeville Lake), and the Alabama River.

The main upper low will finally move to our NW over the weekend, and a cold front will move into Alabama Saturday afternoon. Tornado watches are in effect in east Texas and Louisiana, and storms will move east tonight. The weather situation is complex. The cold front has slowed down enough that the main severe weather threat in BHM will likely be tomorrow morning. There will be moderate wind shear in place, and moist unstable air, so severe storms are likely, starting after midnight in west Alabama then spreading east. The models are indicating that another area of thunderstorms may develop along the Gulf Coast late tonight, and if this happens, along with the storms coming through early in the day (when it is cooler), our tornado threat may be limited some. But, if the Gulf coast storms do not develop, there is a higher risk for tornadoes here, especially if the front slows some more. If things come together, this could be an event with several tornadoes in Alabama, but there are a lot of factors that could stop that, as listed above.

Be sure and have a NOAA weather radio with alarm on when you’re asleep!

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