A broken line of showers and storms is moving southeastward across Central Alabama this evening. It extends from southern Marshall, across Blount, into northern Jefferson County and onward into Tuscaloosa and Fayette Counties The part of the line that looked promising for northeastern Jefferson County is falling apart. The better storms in the line are up in Blount County moving into Etowah and over in northern Tuscaloosa County.

The entire line is slowly weakening as it moves into more stable air worked over by today's storms. It represents the leading edge of a cold front that is moving southeastward through the state. It will be south of Birmingham by morning and should push showers and storm chances to the south tomorrow. We will keep a slight chance of showera and storms in the forecast tomorrow, but they should be isolated at best from about Clanton north.

Now...back to the present...new storms have formed quickly over Central Alabama tonight over Chilton County. They are spreading over into Coosa County as they head southeast.

Expect some fog to develop toward morning in areas where skies are able to clear. Otherwise, tomorrow should be partly cloudy and a little cooler. Drier air will filter in during the day, allowing dew points to fall back 4-5 degrees by tomorrow night.

A massive rain monster is slowly chewing its way across a parched South Central Alabama tonight.

Our squall line of this afternoon had grown in size as it feeds on the superheated moist air in place over the southern half of the state. Entraining air into the advancing vanguard of storms that featured temperatures in the 90s and dewpoints in the the upper 60s to near 70, the storms have propagated southward, leapfrogging their way across the countryside.

Unfortunately, the storms hopped right over Montgomery, where only 0.05 inches of rain was reported and a ten inch rainfall deficit is still posted. One hour rainfall amounts of nearly three inches are common on radar data now from Monroe County into Butler and Crenshaw Counties, then east northeastward into Bullock County and Russell County. Mnay areas have seen over 1.5 inches today.

Closer to home, 2-3 inch amounts are common over East Central Alabama in Calhoun and Clenburne Counties. In the Birmingham metro area, the best rainfall amounts were over the western part of Jefferson County, along the Jefferson/Sleby County line and west of Alasbaster.

At 6:10 p.m., radar indicated that showers and storms had formed in the air over Northwest Alabama that id not see storms earlier today. They were over Marion, Winston, Fayette, Walker, extreme NW Cullman and southern Morgan Counties. This activity is growing and intensity and will ontinue pushing southeastward along a cold front that is moving our way.

Hopefully, it will hold together long enough to bring additional beneficial rains to areas like Cullman, Jasper and Birmingham, but don't expect much. It is not a widespread as the rains earlier today. Still, we will be thankful for what we get.

Thunderstorm activity was weakening for the most part across Central Alabama this afternoon The activity was mirphing into a large area of rain with some embedded thunder. The lone exception is over the City of Montgomery, which storm swere intensifying rapidly this afternoon

A renegade thunderstorm was passing down Highway 78 in Walker County. It extended from Carbon Hill up to Arley in Winston County. It is not veyr strong.

Clouds cover much of the northern half of the state, with the exception of the Northwest Corber, where the sun is out. That ares is behind a southeastward moving cold front that down to about Hamilton.

Temperatures at 4 p.m. ranged from 71 at Anniston to 73 at Birmingham to 77 at Tuscalooa, It was 84 in Muscle Shoals and 85 in Huntsville. Montgomery was back down to 79 after a high of at least 98.

The rain and storms will continue to push slowly southeastward tonight.

Here are some reports from today's thunderstorms...

...A tree fell on a house and car in Mumford in Talladega County at 225 pm.
...About 12:30 p.m...power lines were reported down in Childersburg in Talladega County
...Strong winds downed power lines in Lincoln in Talladega County until 230 p.m.
...Nickel sized hail was reported between Vance and West Blocton around 217 p.m.
...lightning caused a house fire in the Victoria Station subdivision in Alasbaster.
...1.90 inches of rain in 40 minutes in Inverness
...David Black reports 0.94 inches in Maylene, but surmises total may be low due to temporary placement of rain gauge.
...Only 0.51 here in Trussville...J.B. (closer to Argo) got 0.22...but we will take what we can get...

How about nature's air conditioning...
..The temperature fell from a high of 91 to 73 at the Shelby County Airport...
...at the Birmingham Airport, the mercury fell from a high of 94 to 73. 1.15 inches of rain fell at BHM between 1 and 2 p.m.

It was still 97 in Montgomery at 3 p.m., however...the outflow was reaching the airport at 3:30...with winds gusting to 30 mph...the temperature had already dropped to 88.

Rain and embedded thunderstorms continue across much of Northeast and Central Alabama this afternoon

The heaviest activity is over Chilton County where a severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect until 4 p.m.

The Sumter County warning has expired.

Other notable storms are over...

...eastern Cleburne County from west of Ranburne to Borden Springs...
...from Perry County near Marion into southwestern Chilton County near Jemison...
...clustered over southern Sumter...northern Choctaw and Marengo counties....
...scattered over Chambers...Tallapoosa and back into Elmore County...

In Mississippi...a large and strong thunderstorm was over Clay and Oktibbeha Counties west of Columbus Doppler radar estimates that as much as 2.5 inches of rain fell 14 miles northwest of Columbus.

All activity is moving southeastward at 20 mph.

Chilton County...severe thunderstorm warning until 3:15 p.m.

Strong storms near Clanton and Maplesville. That is a big cluster of storms over Bibb and Chilton Counties

Other strong storms are over Calhoun and Cleburne Counties.

Another is over Marengo County.

Back in Mississippi, a strong storm over Lowndes County near West Point is moving due south. It is apparently right along the front.

A large rain mass now covers much of Central Alabama. Storms are embedded in this rain area.

New severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for..

...Cleburne County until 3:00 pm
...Central Chilton County until 3:15 p.m
...Southwestern Sumter County until 3:00 p.m.
...Bibb County until 3 p.m.

More in a moment..

Strong thunderstorms continue over Central Alabama this afternoon...

A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for Clahoun County until 2:45 p.m.

Intense storms over Calhoun County at this time Slightly weaker stroms extend from this activity back over Talladega ZCounty into Shelby County.

A little further west, intense storms are lined up along I-459 and I-59 from southwestern Jefferson County back into northeastern Tuscaloosa County. A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for Bibb county until 3 p.m.

Additional severe storms are back in eastern Mississippi just across the Alabama border. One storm behind the main line is northwest of Columbus, MS It looks fairly strong from the Birmingham radar.

Be alert for approaching storms. They will contain potentially damaging winds, some hail, torrential rains and deadly cloud to ground lightning.

Severe thunderstorm warning for St. Clair County until 2:15.

Intense thunderstorm near Springville becoming severe. Intense lightning and winds to near 60 mph possible.

Watch out for those intense storms over western Jefferson county. They are getting stronger. And they are putting down some rain...They will be passing over Bessemer and McCalla heading for Hoover and Inverness.

Alston Keith reported 1.90 inches in 40 minutes in Inverness. It has been raining torrentially here in Trussville for at least ten minutes.

Intense thunderstorms continue across North and Central Alabama this afternoon...

New severe thunderstorm warning just in for South Central Jefferson and northern Shelby Counties until 1:45 p.m

Severe thunderstorm warning in effect until 145 pm for southeastern Talladega and southwestern Clay County. Activity is strong over these counties and over into Randolph County.

In the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa metro areas...intense storms continue from Blount County, down through northern Jefferson County and back into central Tuscaloosa County approaching the city of Tuscaloosa. The huge storm over northern Jefferson County has apparently collapsed, producing a huge wind outflow to the southeast and east. I observed 45 mph winds in Trussville on Highway 11 with lots of blwoing dust from the Colonial Mall construction project. Lightning is now intense at this location.

Alston Keith in Inverness reports 1.40 inches of rain in 20 minutes. Heavy storms continue to build along the Jefferson/Shelby County line. They will push east into northern Shelby County.

Very strong storms are over southern Pickens County, migrating down into northern Sumter County.

The Storm Prediction Center has said that they may issue a severe thunderstorm watch shortly if conditions warrant.

Be alert for damaging microburst winds, deadly lightning, flooding rains and even some hail from these storms.