On this date in 1997, Tropical Storm Danny was strengthening in the Gulf Of Mexico off of the Louisiana Coast and moving slowly toward land. This marked only the third time in 126 years that fourth tropical storms had formed so early in the season (1886, 1959 were the other years). Of course, this year’s Hurricane Dennis established a new mark.

On July 18th, Hurricane warnings were hoisted along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Alabama as Hurricane Danny headed toward shore, first brushing southeastern Louisiana where tropical storm force winds and high tides caused severe erosion. Grand Isle, Louisiana recorded a wind gust to 95 mph shortly before midnight. One hundred mph winds and torrential rains, flattened power lines, damaged or sunk boats and left flooding in its wake.

Hurricane Danny lashed the Alabama Gulf Coast with winds of 80 mph as the storm stalled over the southern end of Mobile Bay, dumping thirty inches of rain on Coastal Mobile and Baldwin Counties. 36.71 inches of rain fell during the storm at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (25.98 inches of which fell in just seven hours). The incredible rainfall caused extensive flooding. At the Marriott Grand Hotel in Point Clear, a couple was wed despite the hurricane, even though power was out and a bridesmaid couldn’t get to the hotel.

Sure looks that way. Here are some notes so you can be the judge:

COOSA COUNTY
At Weogufka, fondly called the "Metropolis" by blog contributor, Scott, counting today, it has rained on 14 of the 16 days. The total: 8.97 inches.

ETOWAH COUNTY
ABC 33/49 Weather Watcher Vic Bell, who keeps a close watch on the weather in Black Creek, NE of Gadsden, reports 7.26 inches of rain falling on 13 of the first 15 days. Vic says that is quite a lot since we have missed all the big rains since Dennis. 4.45 inches of the 7.26 fell in the three days leading up to Cindy.

SHELBY COUNTY/HELENA
Brian Peters reports 7.34 inches with measurable rain on 11 days. Brian adds that his location is already well above normal even for the entire month of July and if the weather suddenly turned dry, July would still be a wet month.

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT
Measurable rain on 11 of first 15 days in July, total now 5.62, well above normal for two-week period.

TUSCALOOSA AIRPORT
Measurable rain on 10 of first 15 days. The 5.60 total so far is well above normal. Tuscaloosa received 3.51 inches on Sunday, July 10, a direct result of Mr. Dennis.

ANNISTON AIRPORT
Measurable rain on 13 of first 15 days for a total of 5.40 inches. That's rain on 87% of the days. The excess cloudiness and rain has held down temperatures although the humidity has gone off the charts. The high for the first half of July is only 92. On four days, the high was only in the 80s and it only reached 79 on July 6 and 10. A high of only 79 in Judy? Rather unusual.

SHELBY COUNTY AIRPORT
7.34 inches of rain the first two weeks and measurable rain has occurred on 10 of the first 15 days. That is an average of slightly over 1/2 inch per day. Two big rain days, 2.24 inches on the 6th and 3.17 with Dennis on the 10th.

TROY AIRPORT
Down in SE Alabama, measurable rain has come to Troy on 13 of the first 15 days with a total of 6.17 inches. Only nearly half of the days in July so far (7 days) the high temperature has failed to reach 90. On July 10, the day Dennis came calling, the high was only 78.

MONTGOMERY AIRPORT (DANNELLY FIELD)
Measurable rain on 12 of the first 15 days for a total of 5.48 inches. On six days, the ole thermometer could not reach 90.

TENNESSEE VALLEY
Not nearly as wet as the rest of the state. July totals through the 15th include 3.17 inches in Huntsville, 3.86 at Decatur and only 1.81 at Muscle Shoals in Extreme NW Alabama.

The Saturday, July 16, map discussion video is on the server:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

Glad the weekend is here. Just last weekend I was on the Gulf coast awaiting the impact of Dennis. Dennis sure kept us guessing right up to the last minute. But this weekend our attention turns to Hurricane Emily.

Emily is a very dangerous hurricane - a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained wind estimated at 140 mph at this writing. Current projections take Emily south of Jamica, across the western Caribbean, across the northern portion of the Yucatan peninsula and into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Computer models have begun to diverge on their solutions. The various models have had surprisingly small spreads in most of the runs through Emily's life, but the latest run shows a fairly broad spread as the tendency is to shift the track southward a bit. That shift would certainly be welcome for the people of South Texas but definitely unwelcome for the people in Mexico. There was not a current run of the FSU MM5 model that James showed yesterday which was a major departure from the other models, so I can't say what it's doing with Emily.

Over Alabama and the southeastern US, we stay very wet with high likelihood of showers again today and tomorrow. Precipitable water values are over 2 inches in some locations - 2.07 inches at BMX. As high pressure builds stronger across the Southeast this week, we can expect to see a decrease in the areal coverage of showers into the mid and late week, but showers can't be completely ruled out.

Temperatures will climb back into the lower 90s as we see fewer clouds and showers and as the high pressure aloft becomes stronger.

Have a great weekend.

-Brian-