The National Weather Service has declared June 18-24 as lightning safety awareness week…

Summer is the peak season for one of the nation's deadliest weather phenomena— lightning. Safeguarding U.S. residents from dangerous lightning is the goal of this Website. The campaign is designed to lower lightning death and injury rates and America's vulnerability to one of nature's deadliest hazards. In the United States, an average of 67 people are killed each year by lightning.

In 2004, there were 32 deaths attributed to lightning, down from 44 thanks in part to increased education and safety. In 2005, there were 43 deaths confirmed deaths and 172 confirmed injuries. The injury number is likely far lower than it should be because many people do not seek help or doctors do not record it as a lightning injury. People struck by lightning suffer from a variety of long-term, debilitating symptoms, including memory loss, attention deficits, sleep disorders, numbness, dizziness, stiffness in joints, irritability, fatigue, weakness, muscle spasms, depression, and an inability to sit for long.

During a thunderstorm, each flash of cloud-to-ground lightning is a potential killer. The determining factor on whether a particular flash could be deadly depends on whether a person is in the path of the lightning discharge. In addition to the visible flash that travels through the air, the current associated with the lightning discharge travels along the ground.

Although some victims are struck directly by the main lightning stroke, many victims are struck as the current moves in and along the ground. While virtually all people take some protective actions during the most dangerous part of thunderstorms, many leave themselves vulnerable to being struck by lightning as thunderstorms approach, depart, or are nearby. -NOAA

Alberto is barely tropical storm force early tonight as he is moving faster toward the NE passing through South Georgia. Let's take a look. This will probably be our last complete update on Alberto although we will mention him for a few more days.

LOCATION AND MOVEMENT
At 7 pm, CDT, the center of Alberto was about 25 miles SW of Alma, Georgia. The circulation is plainly visible on radar, satellite and surface weather maps this evening. Movement was toward the NE at a faster pace...about 14 mph. He will continue moving NE and will increase his forward speed even more. The center will pass through SE Georgia tonight and across Southern South Carolina Wednesday morning. The track forecast has changed little. After passing through southern and eastern South Carolina the track will be through Eastern North Carolina and out into the Atlantic.

WINDS
Highest sustained winds are down to 40 mph meaning he is barely a tropical storm. He will likely be demoted to a tropical depression later tonight.

RAINFALL
Additional amounts of 2 to 4 inches expected over the north and central Florida Peninsula and into Georgia and South Carolina due to spiral bands.

TORNADOES
A few spinoff tornadoes are still possible over SE Georgia and Coastal South carolina tonight. A Tornado Watch is in effect for that area. Four tornadoes occurred this afternoon. Damage was not major. A tornado was confirmed by a trained weather spotter early tonight near Awendaw, S. C. The tornadoes this afternoon occurred at:

* Riverside, Ga.
* Springfield, Ga.
* Laurel Bay, S. C.
* Charleston

SPOT REPORTS GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston...heavy rain, wind SE 17, gusts 23
Beaufort...moderate rain, SE 20, gusts 35
Columbia...light rain, east 12
Brunswick, Ga.,...cloudy, south 26, gusts 40
Savannah...light rain, east 13

Some of the weather buoys off the Georgia-South Carolina coast were reporting gusts to around 40 mph with 9 foot waves.

SPOT REPORTS FLORIDA
Apalachicola...light rain, wind SW 9
Tallahassee...cloudy, west 7
Jacksonville Naval Air Station...light rain, SW 26, gusts 37
Ocala...cloudy, SW 22, gusts 29
Orlando...cloudy, south 10
Tampa...cloudy, SW 14

We listed the Florida spot reports mainly to show how the weather has improved in that area.

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Don't forget our map videos are also on iTunes so you can watch on your iPod anytime, anywhere...

MORE DRY DAYS: A quick radar check at mid-afternoon showers a few microscopic, isolated showers over Coosa, Elmore, and Montgomery counties. All of North Alabama is dry, and the chance of rain looks very small for the next seven days. As I write this I am hearing from our news department that many more water systems are asking for conservation as water supplies continue to drop across the state.

Any showers tonight should be mainly south of I-85, the far nothern edge of Alberto's circulation.

Look for highs in the upper 80s tomorrow, then we will be near 90 on Thursday, and go into the low to mid 90s by Friday and the weekend.

LONG RANGE: Still nothing showing up on long range model data that gives much hope for a big, beneficial rain event. Sure, there will be some "scattered afternoon showers or storms" along the way at times, but even those will probably be scarce.

ALBERTO: The broad circulation of the tropical storm is inland over extreme South Georgia, and moving northeast. Top winds are down to 40 mph (hard to find even that type of wind on surface observations now)... and the system will continue to slowly weaken over the next 24 hours as it remains over land; it will come back out over the Atlantic late tomorrow or tomorrow night around Norfolk, VA.

Thanks to all of those of you who have signed up as an ABC 33/40 Skywatcher... this is a new network of "storm spotters" who will report to us via an instant message conference. We are especially lookingfor volunteers in rural Alabama counties... to learn more go here:

http://www.jamesspann.com/bmachine/post/wxtalk/4738/

The next map discussion video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

Scattered showers and storms continue this afternoon across CEntral Alabama in association with an outer feeder band of Tropical Storm Alberto.

The activity extends from south of Heflin through Ashland through Rockford through Prattville and Hayneville. Another cluster of storms extends from Marion down through Selma.

The activity is moving west, southwest and south depending on the location along the arc, with the arc sliding westward slowly.

The activity is bing fired by the feeder band, and is being fueled by a warm and moist airmass over Alabama. As Alberto continues moving on NNE and we lose the heating of the day eventually, the activity will diminish.

Scattered showers with a little ocasional thunder continue over East Alabama. They are associated with an outer feeder band of Tropical Storm Alberto which is now inland over North Florida.

They extend mainly from Clay and Randolph Counties down through Coosa, Elmore and Tallapoosa Counties. Some others are over Perry and Dallas Counties.

The heaviest little storm is about 8 miles northwest of Wetumpka.

The activity is moving southwest as you might imagine, around the circulation of Tropical Storm Alberto.

The activity will remain south of I-20 through this afternoon.

A few showers and storms have developed over Northeast Alabama this afternoon. They are a far flung outer band from Tropical Storm Alberto that is making landfall on the Northeast Gulf of Mexico.

The activity is over Etowah and St. Clair Counties, generally near I-59. It is moving west and southwest at about 25 mph. A little bit of lightning and thunder is occurring with the storms.

It will move into northeastern Jefferson County in the Argo and Trussville areas shortly after noon.

Other showers and storms are over East Alabama over Chambers and Lee County.

Alberto is now moving ashore over southern Taylor County, south of Perry, Florida, or about 60 miles SSE of Tallahassee.

Moderate to occasionally heavy rain covers the Florida Big Bend Area, Northeast Florida and parts of southern Georgia. The heaviest rain though is further northeast in the Savannah and Charleston areas.

Spots reports at 11 am CDT...
CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
MARIANNA LGT RAIN 78 68 71 NE12 29.77R
TALLAHASSEE FOG 71 71 100 N20 29.67S VSB 1
GAINESVILLE LGT RAIN 74 70 87 S20G25 29.75R FOG
JACKSONVILLE PTSUNNY 82 71 69 SE17 29.77S
JAX NAS PTSUNNY 83 70 64 S21G28 29.77F
JAX CRAIG PTSUNNY 84 71 65 S15G23 29.78F
ST AUGUSTINE PTSUNNY 82 73 74 SE18G31 29.81

This is a report this morning from our associate David Peters in Tallahassee:

Still raining here in Tallahassee this morning, likely around 3 inches of rain so far from Alberto. We expect off-and-on showers throughout the day as Alberto skirts the Capital City to the east. At the coast, some limited flooding has been reported with some coastal roads underwater. But, all-in-all we are fortunate that Alberto fizzled a bit after yesterday's intensification.

Scattered limbs down around town. Tallahassee's canopy roads always suffer during tropical weather. The 40 mph wind gusts have brought down some limbs that are blocking roads here and there, but nothing major. The city is operating as normal; just another rainy day.

In comparison with Florida's major storms of the past few years, Alberto is really a non-event. So if this is Tallahassee's only brush with tropical weather this season, we'll take it!

David

Late this morning, a few showers had developed over NE Alabama. They extended from the Gadsden-Rainbow City area SW to near Ashville and Ragland.

They were moving west. This is due to part of the broad circulation around Tropical Storm Slberto which was moving ashore in NW Florida

Based on Tallahassee radar, the circulation center of Tropical Storm Alberto was crossing the NW Florida Coast into Taylor County.

This is a little east of Apalachee Bay and closer to Perry, Fla.

The NHC track forecast for Alberto has been excellent.

The National Hurricane Center, in its 10:00 a.m., advisory discontinued all hurricane warnings on the Florida coast. Highest sustained winds in Alberto are now down to 50 mph. He is about to make landfall and he will continue to weaken as he moves over land today. Here is some basic information:

10:00 A.M. LOCATION
The center was near latitude 29.8 N, longitude 83.8 W or about 50 miles SE of Tallahassee. The center is now just offshore from Keaton Beach. Alberto was moving NE at 9 mph and that should continue today. On this track, the center will move across North Florida and into Southern Georgia later this evening.

WARNINGS
No more hurricane warning, but a Tropical Storm Warning continues from Bayport northward and west to the Ochlockonee River. This, of course, is on the Florida Gulf Coast. All warnings south of Bayport have been discontinued. A Tropical Storm Warning remains from Bayport to Indian Pass.

FORECAST TRACK AND TORNADO WATCH
That has not changed. The center should continue across SE Georgia and SE South Carolina passing west of Jacksonville, Savannah, Charleston and Myrtle Beach, then across Eastern North Carolina passing west of Wilmington and finally out into the Atlantic north of Cape Hatteras. There is still a risk of some spin-off tornadoes over North Florida, SE Georgia and the eastern part of South Carolina. A Tornado Watch is in effect at this time in North Florida from about Tallahassee eastward to include Jacksonville. Around 4 o'clock this morning, a possible tornado touched down two miles west of Jacksonville Beach, mainly bringing down trees and power lines.

RAINFALL
Still a risk of 4 to 8 inches of rain near and east of the track as Alberto moves northeastward through North Florida and SE Georgia. Here are some selected 24-hour rainfall totals. The actual storm total may be greater than these figures.

3.56 inches in Sarasota
2.34 in Daytona Beach
2.35 at Orlando
1.90 at Kissimmee
3.58 in Gainesville
2.38 in Jacksonville
2.88 in Winter Haven
3.58 at St. Petersburg
2.17 in Macon
2.26 at St. Simons Island (Brunswick, Georgia)

Remember, this rain has fallen in the general area where there have been tremendous fires due to drought in the last several months. Even as of today, West Palm Beach has received only 14.56 inches of rain this year and Ft. Myers only 9.27. Birmingham, by comparison, has received 30.51 inches.

10:00 A.M. SPOT REPORTS
Apalachicola...moderate rain, wind NW 18
Panama City...cloudy, N 10
Tallahassee...cloudy, N 17, gusts 29
Cross City...wind S 18, gusts 30
Jacksonville...partly sunny, SE 14
Orlando...light rain, S 22, gusts 31
Daytona...cloudy, S 20, gusts 28
St. Petersburg...mostly sunny, SW 24, gusts 31
Savannah...light rain, E 13
Brunswick...partly sunny, SE 14, gusts to 21
Charleston...cloudy, SE 10
Hilton Head Island...heavy rain, SE 8

With all this beneficial rain, Alberto may have been a godsend. I agree with James Spann's asseessment in his morning discussion that so far there have been more pluses than minuses with this storm.

Please remember that you can get tons of tropical weather information by going to the ABC 33/40 weather page and clicking on tropical weather.