On this date in hurricane history...

…back in 1997… Hurricane Nora made landfall in Baja California, Mexico and churned into the southwestern United States. Yuma AZ picked up 3.83 inches of rain from the storm, more than they receive in a normal year. Winds of up to 70 mph accompanied the storm all the way into Utah. Death Valley CA picked up an inch of rain and the .27 of an inch that fell at Los Angeles put an end to the record 219 day dry spell that had been going since February 18th. Nora was only the fourth tropical storm on record to strike the southwestern United States.

…back in 1998… Four hurricanes were going on simultaneously in the Atlantic Hurricane basin (Georges, Ivan, Jeanne, and Karl) when Karl was upgraded to hurricane on the 5PM advisory. That was the first time that had happened since 1893. After moving along the north coast of Cuba on the 24th, Georges was crossing the Florida Keys on this date, heading into the Gulf of Mexico. The storm had re-intensifed and had winds of 105 mph when it made landfall near Key West about midday on the 25th.

…back in 2004… After Hurricane Jeanne killed 1,500 people in Haiti with mudslides and flooding, hunger and disease took center stage. U.N. troops tried to maintain order in the storm torn nation, desperately trying to protect stores of food and supplies from armed gunmen.

Thanks to Rick Osborne of Pell City and Gary Jones for these great sunset shots this evening...

Thanks to ABC 33/40 Skywatcher Chuck Biddinger for these excellent images of tornado damage in Oneonta:

I was skeptical that convection would develop across the area this afternoon, but the radar over East Alabama is lit up like a proverial Christmas tree this afternoon.
Showers and storms are commonplace over several areas...

...Calhoun and Cleburne Counties
...Randolph, Tallapoosa, Coosa and Clay Counties down into Chambers County

Showers are not as intense over Talladega, Shelby, Bibb and Perry County, but they are there.

Moderate showers are lined up along the Jefferson/Walker County line back into Tuscaloosa County. This is just ahead of the main cold front.

Showers and a few thunderstorms have developed this afternoon ahead of a cold front.

The bulf of the activity is east of I-59, although a few showers are to the west over western Etowah, Cullman, Blount and western Jefferson County.

A brief shower just soaked the Birmingham Airport.

Lightning accompanies the showers over Calhoun, Talladega, Coosa, Tallapoosa and Clay Counties as well as southeastern Tuscaloosa and Bibb County. The latter activity will move toward Shelby County.

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

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Don't forget that the map discussion is available in both WMV and MOV formats (Windows and Quicktime), so you have your choice for viewing.

What a wet start to Fall!! And what a severe end to Summer!! Severe weather outbreaks are not commonplace as we make the transition from Summer into Fall, so Friday was certainly an unusual day with over 20 tornadoes across the Tennessee and Ohio valleys including several in Alabama. Blog posts below have pictures from the damage as well as information received from the NWS on their storm surveys.

Today will be a cloudy, rainy day for the most part though at this writing the greatest rain threat is along and east and south of Interstate 59. Some threat for severe weather exists across Southeast Alabama but I think that is minimal. The cold front was located this morning from about Louisville to Memphis to near Shreveport based on the drop off in dewpoints. That front should progress steadily eastward today ushering in much drier air to Central Alabama on Monday. In the meantime, though, we will probably see additional showers develop along and ahead of the front with afternoon heating though clouds will keep temperatures in check somewhat.

After today the forecast goes dry and is likely to stay dry through the week. Another cold front will approach our area on Thursday and is expected to zip through quickly early Friday. This front is likely to have very little moisture return so it will probably be dry. There is some risk of showers should the front bring any moisture with it. Another factor against showers is that the strongest dynamics with the system will be north of Central Alabama.

The weather dries out again into next weekend.

Temperatures will be nice for the upcoming week as we continue the parade of Pacific systems. No sign of anything dramatically colder yet, but I'm sure that will be coming as Fall matures.

In the very long range, October kicks off with a dry start with a strong ridge over the eastern half of the country. October is climatologically our driest month, so the current rainfall event is nice to have to get some water into the reservoirs and dams before the dry month hits.

Clouds and rain sure make me want to get back into the bed this morning - great sleeping weather - but I'll be filling in for John Oldshue this evening so I guess that's a luxury I won't enjoy this time. I hope you all have a great Sunday. God bless.

-Brian-

Good morning...

Much of a broad area of Alabama centered on the I-59 corridor is getting a good soaking this morning.

Radar estimates indicate that a widespread area of 2-4 inch amounts, with some 5 inch amounts may have fallen in many spots north of Birmingham and west of Oneonta. Another secondary band of heavy amounts across parts of Bibb, Tuscaloosa, Greene and Sumter Counties.

We were getting moderate rain in Trussville at 6:45 with 0.63 inches falling since midnight. Anyone who has rainfall amounts to share, please post them on the blog.

At 6:45, the leading edge of the rain, including some heavy rain, extends across eastern Etowah, western Calhoun, over much of Talladega County, then over much of Shelby County around Calera over to Centreville in Bibb County. The line of storms becomes thinner but stronger over Hale County and along the Sumter/Marengo county line.

The heaviest rains in the past hour have been from western Shelby County west of Alabaster back into Bibb County beyond West Blocton.

The rain area is making definite, although slow, progress to the east. The back edge of the rain now extends from Marshall County down through Cullman,. Walker, eastern Fayette then to western Tuscaloosa, Greene and Sumter Counties.

Rain should end in the Birmingham area by around 830 a.m., and eastern sections toward lunch time. The cold front is nearing thr Northwest corner of the state. It will move slowly southeastward across the area today. It could still produce a few showers and maybe a storm before it passes this afternoon.

Chances for severe weather are very limited today except possibly over southern sections. Flooding is not expected to be a major threat, unless we see training of heavy rainfall in any one area.

Drier and cooler air will overspread the area starting tonight with very pleasant conditions expected through midweek.

A broad band of rain and thunderstorms was located from West Central Alabama into the NE part of the state early this morning.

The heaviest rain (quite heavy inplaces) extended from near Demopolis in the west...NE to about Centreville, Montevallo, Childersburg, Talladega, then through West Calhoun County to Dekalb County in NE Alabama.

The whole complex was pushing slowly east and SE.

A Couple of 33/40 Skywatcher early reports:
*1.61 inches of rain in Alabaster from Stephanie Honeycutt, with heavy rain continuing.

*Thunder and lightning and heavy rain in Childersburg from Brandon Robinson

From the Alabama Power Network, these rainfall amounts, however they are just up until midnight. A lot of additional rain has fallen since that time:

1.70 inches in Blountsville
1.34 in Ashville
1.04 in Cordova
1.18 in Haleyville
1.30 in Steele
1.09 in Oneonta

It is likely that part of West and NW Alabama has received as much as 3 to 5 inches of rain from this entire event.

SEVERE WEATHER RISK
The NWS SPC has part of Central and East Central Alabama under a slight risk for today. However, it is mainly in areas east and SE of the Birmingham area.

Actually, the Birmingham area should see the rain taper off this morning. However, with the cold front still to our west, some more showers and storms can be expected later today.

Bill Murray will be posting additional information and either Brian Peters or James Spann will have a video/discussion a little later this morning.

Showers and thunderstorms were increasing again over parts of West Alabama early on this Sunday morning. At 3:15 am, heavy rain with considerable lighting was occurring over:

Lamar County
Pickens
Fayette
Greene
Tuscaloosa

Even heavier rain was just over the Mississippi border in the Tupelo-Columbus area.

The heavier rain and thunderstorms will spread toward the ENE into the Centreville-Birmingham-Jasper-Cullman areas between now and daybreak.

More great images of the Blount County severe storms from Larry Goodwin, in the Hayden area: