As I write this we are in the midst of a busy night in the weather office. Discounting Hurricane Ivan back in September, this is really our first significant severe weather event here since November 10, 2002 when about a dozen tornadoes touched down across north Alabama. We spent about an hour on TV yesterday afternoon when Tuscaloosa and Bibb counties were placed under a tornado warning due to a rotating thunderstorm that moved from near Duncanville to a point just north of Centreville and on to near Brierfield. One viewer sent in some great pictures of a rotating wall cloud with that storm, but we could not find any reports of damage along the path. It passed mostly through rural areas.

I am trying to get all the weather discussions written and the morning radio feed “in the can” so we will be ready for more long form coverage during the late night and overnight hours. This is not exactly your classic setup for severe thunderstorms, but a number of parameters are in place, and there is always concern when severe storms roll through here in the pre-dawn hours. Despite our constant preaching, a large majority of Alabamians do not have a NOAA Weather Radio receiver in their home, so getting the word out at 3:00 a.m. can be very difficult.

One these storms get out of here I am really looking forward to our short term cold snap for Thanksgiving. I get the idea we will hold in the 40s much of the day tomorrow with a very cool northwest breeze. And, by Friday morning most of you shoppers will have to scrape frost of the windshield as you hit the stores for the big bargains. But, enjoy the day Friday since the latest data suggests some more rain could arrive here on Saturday. No boredom in the weather office these days!

A Tornado Warning was in effect for Lamar abd Marion County in NW Alabama until 10:30 pm. There was a report of a possible tornado touchdown at Detroit in the NW corner of Lamar County. However there is no confirmation.

Several questions about how J.P. runs the radar in Tuscaloosa; he captures our radar computer remotely using a high speed Internet connection and runs the software on a laptop at his place. I have run the radar like that for John Oldshue sitting in my backyard using wi-fi!

New tornado watch coming out now for north Alabama... gotta run...

Looks like a long night in the weather office and we weather humans will get little or no sleep.

Widespread thunderstorm activity across Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana still to move through Alabama late tonight and Wednesday morning. A new tornado watch covers much of North and Central Mississippi until 2 am. It extends east to the Alabama border.

So far, as of 7:15 tonight, no major damage has been reported. A more recent damage report indicated numerous trees down near Holcomb in North Mississippi's Grenada County.

Earlier, there was a tornado fatality in East Texas.

We will watch and wait.

The weather has calmed down a bit after the rotating storm moved through southern Tuscaloosa and Bibb counties this afternoon. Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

As I write this a new tornado watch is being posted for north and central Mississippi. Been so busy today not enough time for a close look at weather data. Gonna run down to a burger joint, bring it back, and study some maps before the action flares up again.

We are gearing up for a long night. A little short staffed with Brian Peters out of town; thank goodness for my son J.P. who is "running radar" remotely down in Tuscaloosa. Technology is great!

Our Flood Watch continues today as we expect more occasional periods of heavy rain all the way into Wednesday.

Around 7 this morning, part of U. S. 78 east of Lincoln was closed due to flooding.

Numerous communities had more than an inch of rain in the last 24 hours. Because there are so many, let's look at amounts only over two inches for the 24 hours ending at 6 this morning:

3.30 inches at Tuscaloosa Airport
3.39 at Holt Dam (on the east side of Tuscaloosa)
2.52 at Greystone Cove (North Shelby County)
2.08 at Dearmanville (east of Anniston)
2.52 at Hollins (Clay County)
2.40 at Jackson Shoals (Talladega County)
2.72 at Manchester (Walker County)
2.70 on Mt. Cheaha
2.20 in Oneonta
2.70 at Henry Dam (Calhoun County)
2.30 at Steele (North St. Clair County)
2.25 at Birmingham Airport

Video update is being posted as this is being typed:
http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

The general idea has not changed much. Periods of rain and storms today and tonight with the threat of flooding, and a risk of strong to severe storms early tomorrow morning with the biggest potential problem coming from damaging straight line winds.

Additional rainfall amounts of 2 inches or so are likely through midday tomorrow, and needless to say the ground is saturated.

The squall line will come through tomorrow morning during the best possible time of day, when the air is most stable. We figure it will roll in here sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Hopefully we will get away with just strong storms with gusty winds, but the wind profiles still suggest we could see some tree and powerline damage in bow echo segments. The GFS has backed off a little on the 850 mb winds (about 5,000 feet), now showing a max of about 45 knots over us early in the morning.

Thanksgiving looks pretty cold. We will probably be in the 40s all day with a very chilly northwest wind, and a light freeze early Friday looks more and more likely for a majority of north and central Alabama communities.

More fun and games come down the road... some rain returns over the weekend, and we might have another flood threat during the first half of next week. Another significant storm shows up in the December 5-6 time frame. Busy days in the weather office...

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