Thanks to Ed Pegues for this great picture of a rainbow this morning in Tuscaloosa...

HEADLINE: A few isolated showers and storms have developed over North Central Alabama...

SKIES: Skies are partly cloudy across most of the northern half of Alabama. Clouds are concentrated over parts of Walker and Marion County and over East Alabama, over Eotwah and Cherokee Counties, where showers are occurring. They are also concentrated over South Central Alabama. A nice cumulus fied has developed over parts of North central Alabama and may signal development to come. Good vertical development in the cloud field is noted over South Central Alabama from Sumter County through the Montgomery area and over to the Columbus GA area. This is where the other storms are occurring today.

RADAR: Showers evident from Lamar through Fayette and into Walker County. Decent storm just south of US-78 from Eldridge over to Carbon Hill. Moving ESE. Could affect Jefferson County later. Another nice little storm south of Leesburg in Cherokee County moving generally toward Piedmont.

TEMPERATURES/DEW POINTS: Readings were in the lower to middle 80s at 1 p.m. Dewpoints were in the lower to middle 70s, yielding heat indices in the lower 90s for the most part.

NATIONALLY: Not much happening. Only three server thunderstorm warnings at 1:55, all up in North Dakota. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for parts of Nebraska and South Dakota. There is a slight risk outlook for severe weather from northeast Colorado up to Minnesota. Flash flood watches are in effect for parts of eastern South Dakota. Drought continues over a wide area of the nation, including the Southeast. In the week ahead, the wildfire danger will be high over the western United States and over North Texas and Oklahoma. Flooding will be possible from monsoon rains in the Southwest, mainly over New Mexico.

MUSING OF THE DAY: What happened to "thundershowers?" It is a word we don't use anymore.

Thanks to Jeff Wyatt for the new SKYCAM page on the ABC 33/40 site:

http://www.abc3340.com/static/skycams/skycamsmain.html

That is a remarkable real-time view of the state from our SKYCAM network. Click on each site for complete weather data in real time. We should have two new sites up and running before August is over. Thanks to all of our partners in the project for making it happen, especially Compass Bank. They really stepped up to the plate!

The Gadsden SKYCAM unit was hit by lightning a couple of days ago... we will work as quickly as possible to get it back online. That is a great mountain view overlooking Gadsden and the Coosa Valley... one again we thank Mayor Steve Means and everone with the City of Gadsden for making that site happen!

One of our readers shared this image of a rainbow this morning in the parking lot of a Target in Tuscaloosa:

Showers and storm continue to slowly weaken across North Central Alabama this morning...

Along the northern edge, they extend through Calhoun and Cleburne Counties, then into Etowah and Blount Counties.

Anotehr wave of showers and storms extends from Cullman County down through Walker and western Jefferson Counties, then back into Tuscaloosa and Pickens Counties. The heaviest rain at 9:45 a.m. was over southeastern Cullman County, with a large area of moderate rain over southwestn Jefferson County. It will move over Bessemer and Hoover and into northern Shelby County around Helena and Pelham if it holds together.

Other showers are over Clay, moving into Randoolph and northern Chambers Counties.

The activity should continue to weaken between now and noon.

The Saturday map discussion video is on the web, and available on iTunes:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Just click on the link above to get the map discussion video in either the .wmv format (Windows Media) or the .mov format (Quicktime). We will offer the video in both formats. You can also subscribe and see it in iTunes at no cost.

The weather across Central Alabama has been somewhat unsettled for the last several days, and it appears that the unsettled pattern will be with us today and perhaps tomorrow. A stationary front was draped across Central Alabama this morning and thunderstorms were once again firing along this boundary. Weak surface lows were rippling along the boundary helping to enhance showers and storms in several locations. The scattered thunderstorms were located from Randolph County in East Central Alabama to Lamar and Marion counties in the western side of the state. Showers continued westward from the Mississippi/Alabama line all the way to North Central Texas.

This stationary front will be with us at least through Sunday. It is actually forecast to sink a bit further south today and tonight, so the main focus for weather Sunday will shift into the southern half of the state. Meanwhile, the combination of clouds and showers will keep temperatures down significantly. Many areas will probably stay in the 80s with afternoon highs topping out in the upper 80s. Any location that gets a couple of hours of sun could see readings peak just above 90.

The stationary front washes out by the early part of the week and then another front approaches the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday but dissipates on Wednesday. From Thursday into the weekend, an elongated ridge from Texas into the eastern Great Lakes area will help to return us into the lower 90s for highs with those ever-present isolated afternoon and early evening showers and storms - a pattern more typical for summertime in the South.

Way out - nearly two weeks out - the GFS is advertising the development of a fairly substantial trough over the eastern US. This could signal a brief air mass change giving us a preview of Fall. I've noticed over the years that we often get a reasonably strong cold front in mid or late August to give us some cooler and drier air - a real preview of what Fall will offer. And I'm ready for that though I have appreciated the rain I've gotten over the last several days.

I'll be back tomorrow morning with another web video map discussion. I hope you have a great weekend. I expect to be heading out this afternoon to drive the Storm Chaser in the RESPECT parade at the RESPECT Rally at the Alabama Fairgrounds area.

-Brian-

It is not often that we get to wake up to the wonderful sound of pouring rain and rumbling thunder on an August morning. For many folks across North Central Alabama, that has been the case on this Saturday. Rainfall amounts were generally light, but some nice streaks of one to two inch rainfall amounts were already evident by early morning, especially over southeastern Walker County into South Central Jefferson County. Even higher amounts may have been observed over parts of Lamar and Fayette Counties.

ON THE WEATHER MAPS: A diffuse frontal boundary lies across North Alabama. Showers and storms formed overnight and into the early morning hours. That activity has weakened a bit, but showers and a few embedded thunderstorms continue at 8:25 from Pickens and Lamar County across Fayette and Tuscaloosa County. More showers were over Winston, Walker and Cullman Counties. To the east, showers were increasing over Talladega and Clay Counties. This activity should continue to move east southeast and gradually weaken.

LATER TODAY: The heavy clouds and precipitation have kept down readings across the northern half of the state. South of the cloudy areas, sunshine will be prevalent, and temperatures will rise into the 90s quickly. Storms are already starting to fire over South Central Alabama.

So places like Livingston, Greensboro, Marion, Clanton, Opelika, Wetumpka and Selma as well as Montgomery will see heavy storms later today.

Further north, sunshine will gradually return as drier air filters in. Storms will be isolated across North Central sections later today as temperature eventually rise into the upper 80s.

DENSE FOG LATE TONIGHT: Conditions will be ideal for the development of low clouds and fog late tonight through the early morning hours on Sunday. Lots of low level moisture underneath clear skies will lead to the development of the clouds and fog. So keep that in mind if you travel late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

As of 7:25, the 3340 Downtown Birmingham Skycam site has received 1.45 inches of rain. On Rex lake Road, in the Leeds area, we have a report of 1.97 inches of rain with 0.77 just in the last hour.

Heaviest rain now in these areas:

+ North Pickens County
+ South Lamar County
+ SW Fayette County
+ NE Shelby County
+ West edge Talladega County near Alpine community.

Scroll down for a lot more still valid information.

I was bounced out of bed at 4:30 this morning by a telephone call (a silent one). I had great plans to sleep late, maybe even 7 am, but it was not to be.

Since I was up, I started doing blog updates.

Bill Murry will be driving the blog bus today and Brian Peters will have a video update later this morning.

Very heavy rain continues this morning across the Birmingham Metro Area.

3340 Downtown Skycam site reports 1.54 inches so far. NWS/Birmingham estimates 1 to 2 inches in parts of the area so far and advises an additional 1 to 3 inches may fall until about 10 this morning.

It is due to the "training" effect of the storms. The long west to east line features repeated thunderstorms that track eastward over the same general area. The line extends back into SE Arkansas where up to 6 inches of rain has fallen.

Shortly after 7, the heaviest rain in Metro Birmingham had shifted over to the east...along the Shelby-St. Clair County line.

But is is pouring again in West Alabama especially in North Pickens and South Lamar County. Based on radar estimates, as much as 3.50 inches of rain has fallen in the last three hours over South Lamar County south of Vernon.

So far...no Severe Thunderstorm Warnings along the entire line...just heavy rain and lots of lightning.

That long west to east line of showers and thunderstorms still extends all the way from SE Arkanas all the way across North Central Mississippi to Birmingham. In fact some showers have moved as far east as Talladega County.

In Alabama, some of the strongest storms (and heaviest rain) was in Jefferson County approaching Downtown Birmingham.

3340 Skywatcher Nathan Jones reports lots of thunder in Pelham in North Shelby County.

No Severe Thunderstorm Warnings so far along this line but since the storms are "training" some folks will get a lot of rain.

Everything moving eastward but the line is sliding lightly toward the ESE.

Back to the west, the NWS in Little Rork reports that some areas in SE Arkansas may have received up to 6 inches of rain during the night because of the "training" of these storms.

LATER REPORT
From J. Michel Thomas, 3340 Skywatcher, downtown Birmingham: Moderate to heavy rain downtown with lots of lightning.

Here in NE Trussville, only light rain so far..