This week has been Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. The purpose of the exercise is for all Alabamians to review their severe weather safety rules.

There were a record 77 tornadoes in Alabama in 2005. This easily beat the old record of 56 tornadoes set in 2005. There have only been seven years with more than fifty tornadoes in Alabama. Those years were 1957, 1973, 1974, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005.

But the record is a bit of a special case. You see, 49 of the 77 tornadoes occurred in conjunction with landaflling tropical weather systems. There were five tornado outbreaks in the state this past year. An outbreak is defined as five or more tornadoes. Those outbreaks occurred on April 30th, July 6th (Tropical Storm Cindy), August 28-29 (Hurricane Katrina), September 25 (Hurricane Rita) and November 28th.

It certainly seems there are more tornadoes these days. Nationwide, tornado counts are up. This is not a factor of global warning or weather gone wild. It is a factor of better verification. National Weather Service meteorologists have more opportunities and better ways to do post storm investigations. Doppler radar signatures are more accurate at pinpointing where potential tornado tracks may have occurred.

The top five Alabama counties for tornadoes since 1950: Baldwin (83), Mobile (70), Jefferson (69), Cullman (51), Tuscaloosa (50), Take a moment to review your personal tornado safety plan. Know basic tornado safety rules and be prepared to act when severe weather threatens.

The rain continues out there across most of the area on this Saturday evening. The end is in sight. The back end of the rain shield was passing Vicksburg, Mississippi at 6:30 p.m.

The axis of the heaviest rain was passing across The I-59 corridor at 6:30.

Most of North Central Alabama will end up with rainfall amounts right around one inch or just a little higher. But over parts of West Central Alabama around Pickens, Greene and Sumter Counties, rainfall amounts of over two inches may be common, with a few reports over three inches. Same for East Central Alabama, where parts of Calhoun and Cleburne Counties may have picked up over two inches.

Rain should begin to taper off as we go through the evening hours, ending from west to east. Temperatures will fall into the 30s overnight, probably stopping just short of freezing, we believe.

Get ready for a sunny but cool day on Sunday with a biting north wind, gusting to around 20 mph at time. Highs will top out around 50 degrees tomorrow.

A nice warmup will begin on Monday, with above normal temperatures expected for the coming week.

My rain gauge in Helena recorded over an inch of rain in the last few minutes - actual total 1.04 inches. Weather radar continued to show a large area of rain across much of central Alabama with a small hole of very light rain between Montgomery and Birmingham. A large area of moderate rain extended in an arc from Gadsden across Jasper to just west of Tuscaloosa and southward to near Demopolis. Radars continued to show rain extended all the back to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex at this hour.

For my weather observation site, this marks the 13th day of February with measurable rain, that's 52 percent of the month.

And for the month I've recorded 5.33 inches of rain which is a little over one inch above the normal of 4.21 inches for the Birmingham area.

We do expect to see the rain end tonight but with drier air comes a brief shot of colder air, too.

-Brian-

Still raining over a large part of Alabama this Saturday afternoon, heavy in some areas.

The Tennessee Valley of Extreme North Alabama has received very little so far.

Moderate to heavy amounts across Central Alabama.

By far, the heavier amounts down south.

Some amounts between 6 am and noon today:

0.50 at Tuscaloosa Airport
0.49 at Birmingham Airport
0.61 at Shelby County Airport
1.91 in Montgomery
1.65 in Mobile

Less than 1/10th inch in Decatur and Huntsville

The Saturday map discussion video is on the server at:

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

I'm not as musically inclined as James Spann, so I won't start with some rainy day song like "Rain drops keep falling on my head..." But it sure looks like that is what we can expect for the day as radar shows rain extending all the way back into West Texas at this writing.

As JB noted, yesterday was a beautiful February day with temperatures in the middle 60s across central Alabama. My wife and I along with our dog, Dakota, enjoyed a wonderful outing to Ruffner Mountain where we took in the nature center and a hike along a couple of the trails. Dakota, being the brave dog that she is, always has to take the point and lead the way. But we felt so secure and indeed never saw any ferocious animals to jeopardize our safety!! Dogs give so much to life!

Looks like rainfall amounts across Central Alabama could reach the one to one and a half inch range. I'd already recorded 8 tenths of an inch when I started the map discussion. Some spots may see as much as 2 inches in the heavier bands as the QPF forecast suggests this morning.

The upper air pattern will sharpen up on Sunday as we get out of this zonal pattern. As the pattern sharpens, the front will finally come through the Southeast and bring an end to the rain tonight with drier, colder air for Sunday and Monday. Freezing temperatures will be possible on Sunday morning and Monday morning.

But in fairly classic Southeast US fashion, our temperatures will rebound into the 60s Tuesday and may push 70 on Wednesday. Weak impulses along with a weak front but not much moisture will bring changes for rain into the picture by Friday and Saturday. It does not look like we'll see the kind of wet weekend next weekend like we are seeing now.

Long range GFS forecasts are suggesting a less potent system around March 6 for us. But the storm system does develop along the east coast and may present a signficant storm system for the middle Atlantic states and New England. By March 11, the GFS is bringing a strong trough out of the Rockies that suggests a severe weather episode for the lower and middle Mississippi River Valley - we'll watch the trends on that one.

Stay dry today. Don't forget the last Storm Alert show will be this coming Tuesday (not Thursday) at the Civic Center in Northport. Hope to see you there.

-Brian-

It is raining almost everywhere over the north two thirds of Alabama early on this Saturday morning.

Heavy rain in some areas.

Based on radar estimates, more than two inches already over parts of Greene and North Sumter County in West Central Alabama. Heavy rain also in parts of Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County.

Moving toward the ENE.

ACTUAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS
In Mississippi, Jackson reports 1.64 inches overnight including 1.56 since midnight. Meridian Airport 1.06 inches through 6 am.