Afternoon Update: Strong storms and reports of damage; Watching the tropics

Strong line of storms continues to make its way out of the northern parts of the state into parts of central Alabama as of 130pm CDT.  At times there have been portions of the line pulsating up to severe limits with the main threat damaging winds to 60mph and some embedded hail.  Torrential rainfall and frequent lightning along this line as well. This line will continue to push mainly southeastward with storms over the next few hours from Birmingham to Atlanta, GA.

Monitoring re-development of storms for northern Alabama later this afternoon/evening along a front. Some uncertainly on intensity.  We will have to see if the atmosphere can recover from the storms that have just rolled through.

There have been some reports of trees and power lines downed.  Here are just a few reports coming into the NWS Huntsville office:

– 7 miles SW of Grant (Marshall County): In Honeycomb Campground, a tree on a camper and camper blown over.

– 3 miles SSE Union Grove (Marshall County): Tree downed on HWY 69 at Marshall North Hospital.

– Along HWY 35 in the Larkinsville/Limerock area (Jackson County), several trees downed.

– Close to 2500 without power across portions of Jackson and Marshall Counties.

The National Hurricane Center has posted their 1pm CDT update on Potential Tropical Cyclone Four.  The disturbance we are monitoring closely is crossing Cuba.  The system is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph. A turn toward the northwest at a slower forward speed is expected tonight or Saturday, followed by a turn toward the north on Sunday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. The disturbance is expected to develop into a tropical depression on Saturday as it moves across the Straits of Florida, followed by intensification into a tropical storm by Saturday night.

A larger update on this system will be posted on The Alabamawx Blog after the 4pm CDT update from the NHC.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather, Tropical