A Wild Afternoon/Evening

But relax. All the big action is over. Main thunderstorms at 8 o’clock tonight tonight had pushed all the way into South Alabama–some 50 miles or more south of Montgomery. Even way down there, the storms are a lot weaker. Credit nightfall.

Those big boomers got their start this afternoon in North Central Alabama, well north of Birmingham. They became meaner and meaner as they traveled south. You could hear deep thunder a good 20 or 30 minutes before the storms reached you. By that time they were overloaded with excess water and bolts of lightning.

Big storms like that often have downbursts (colder heavier air rushing down from the upper part of the storm) When the cooler air hits the ground, it has nowhere to go except to rapidly spread out. That may have caused part of the damage this afternoon.

I live in Northeast Trussville just off US 11 near Amerex and Paine School and the huge new Faith Church. I do not have wind instruments but I estimated wind gusts 55-60 mph in the storm. I have been in weather work a zillion years so I think that is a good estimate. We got 2.16 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes! The lightning was the worst I can remember in 10 years living here. The thunder was actually shaking the house and windows. I was trying to do a radio broadcast and I thought a big bolt of lightning would come in on the telephone line and get me. I am more afraid of lightning than a 20-foot rattlesnake or an alligator. At that point, we had total power failure that lasted for over two hours..

There is considerable damage in the Trussville area.

Randi Brown shared a twitter message with us and we appreciate the information. She works downtown. She reported the streets around St. Vincent’s Hospital were flooded and that cars parked on the side had water up to the windows.

Everybody did not get heavy rain, These amounts:
0.05 Gadsden
0.18 Birmingham Airport
0.14 Tuscaloosa Airport
0.91 Montgomery

This seems to be the year of the thunderstorm. So expect more tomorrow and the days after that.

Personally, I highly respect other folk’s opinions and preferences, but I am ready for October–even starting tomorrow if that could be possible!

After the power failure, I could not reestablish contact with our 33/40 Skywatchers link. Sorry.

Category: Alabama's Weather