Heard any loud booms lately?

Here is an interesting article from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"Life can serve up a good mystery every once in a while. Weird things happen that defy explanation, that make us wonder how much we really know about the world. Something of the sort happened in San Diego County shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, and so far no one has come forward with an explanation. Whatever it was, it caused a woman's bed to shake in Lakeside. It created waves in a backyard pool in Carmel Valley. It set off car alarms in Kearny Mesa and rattled windows from Mission Beach to Poway to Vista. At various spots throughout the county, people reported a rumbling sound or a booming noise. Scientists insist it wasn't an earthquake. The Federal Aviation Administration has no record of any planes producing a sonic boom by breaking the sound barrier.

Nor, to this day, can anyone explain what was behind similar episodes in Maine two months ago, or Alabama three months ago, or North Carolina four months ago. In each of those cases – as well as in other incidents around the nation over the years – residents reported hearing windows rattle and feeling floors shake even though no earthquake was detected.”

I did receive this report from a viewer a couple of weeks ago:

“I live in Eutaw, AL and around 3:00 am this morning 4/21, I could have sworn i felt a tremor! I have only felt one other "earthquake" in this area and didn't know if i was dreaming or if it was real...!?!? I know in the past I have been able to find the seismic activity in the area from your website and can't remember where to go to find it… Can you help???”

No ideas here. How about you? Anyone else hear loud booms around here in recent weeks?

Strong storms failed to develop over Central Alabama this afternoon.

The Storm Prediction Center has taken much of North and Central Alabama out of a "slight risk" area. There is still a slight risk over SW Alabama from about Greensboro and Demopolis down to the Mobile area.

Almost all of the storms late this afternoon were over Extreme South Mississippi and far SW Alabama.

Repeating...The Greater Birmingham area no longer under a severe weather risk.

Strongest thunderstorms over the entire north half of Alabama was over the east-central part. It was over North Tallapoosa and South Clay County between Dadeville and Ashland.

Moving east.

Otherwise, almost nothing over the north half.

By far the main action is over Extreme South Mississippi and SW Alabama.

Earlier this afternoon, there was some brief pea-size hail SW of Brent in Bibb County. Very puny compared to last week.

The Tuesday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

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

The first storms of the day are popping up over Alabama... and they might produce small hail as reflectivity values are up to 65 dbz on our Pinpoint Doppler Radar. But, severe weather parameters are pretty marginal for the rest of the day and tonight. SPC maintains a slight risk of severe weather for the northern two-thirds of the state.

Surface based CAPE values (instabilty) are up to 2,000 j/kg over parts of Central Alabama right now, but wind fields are marginal and lapse rates are so-so. I think the main threat will be from hail in the stonger storms, but nothing like the ones we saw last week. The mid-level lapse rate here is 6.5 degrees C/km... last week it was over 8 degrees C/km.

Rain will continue tonight and well into the day tomorrow. I still think the rain tapers off during the midday hours from west to east. I still think we stay in the 60s most of the day; if the sun pops out tomorrow afternoon we will reach the low 70s.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY: Great weather. Lots of sun, comfortable temperatures. Highs in the 70s.

THE WEEKEND: NASCAR fans paying close attention to this since this is race weekend at Talladega. Not much doubt we will have to dodge raindrops this weekend. I still think there is a reasonable chance much of the day Saturday will be dry, but no promise. The best chance of showers Saturday will be along and north of U.S. 278, or north of a line from Hamilton to Cullman to Gadsden.

Showers and storms will be more likely over the entire northern half of the state Saturday night into Sunday, as a big storm system forms over Missouri. This will be the result of phasing from systems in the southern branch and the northern branch of the jet. Dynamics will support a chance of strong to severe thunderstorms on Sunday, especially for the northern half of the state.

Not sure if the instabilty will be all that high here on Sunday, but the dynamics should be pretty impressive. Bottom line is that Sunday looks wet, with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. A rain delay at Talledega seems likely, and there is also a chance they won't be able to run. Of course, this can change, so stay tuned.

LONG RANGE: The GFS continues to advertise the idea of a mean long wave upper trough over the eastern U.S. for the first 10 days in May... this could suggest cooler than normal temperatures here in Alabama. Sounds good to me...

Sure enjoyed seeing the second graders today at Huntingdon Place Elementary in Northport... look for them on the KIDCAM on ABC 33/40 News at 5:00!

The next map discussion video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow... J.B. will keep the blog updated as storms continue to develop this evening.

Not many showers or storms around Alabama at this hour but the few that are in progress are fairly strong. They were located:

Over NE Pickens County
Chilton County
West Coosa County

Moving a bit south of due east.

Showers and storms will increase in number later this afternoon and tonight. Slight severe weather risk for the entire area. Does not appear to be major.

The first showers of the day, and even a thunderstorm over West Central Alabama early this afternoon.

At 12:15 pm, they were mostly over NE Greene and SW Tuscaloosa County. The small thunderstorm was over SW Tuscaloosa County but producing heavy rainand approaching the Tuscaloosa-Northport area.

Another moderate to heavy shower over Lamar County north of Vernon.

Moving east.

They will be increasing as the afternoon goes on.

Entire NW 2/3 of Alabama under a "slight risk area" this afternoon and tonight.

Here in Central Alabama, storms will be more numerous late afternoon/tonight.

Our weekly 30 minute audio podcast has been posted... WeatherBrains episode 13!

In this weeks show:

*We look back at Alabama's incredible hail storms from the week of April 17th...

*Where and how should we rebuild after Katrina? We talk with one of the nation's top damage researchers, who says we can learn a lot from the destruction... (a GREAT interview done by David Black with Tim Marshall)

*Showers vs. rain: What's the difference?

*Just what is a weather geek? Brian Peters heads to the dictionary...

Check it out:

http://www.weatherbrains.com/

The Tuesday morning map discussion video is on the server:

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

SPC maintains a slight risk of severe weather for the northern half of Alabama later today and tonight.

No rain this morning for Alabama, but showers and storms should begin to fire up later this afternoon, and some strong storms will be possible roughly from 4:00 until 10:00 p.m. Quite franky, severe weather parameters are not overwhelming... the NAM does suggest an area of surface based CAPE approaching 2000 over West Alabama this evening, but wind fields are relatively weak for late April and also unidirectional. Lapse rates are somewhat steep, so hail might be the biggest threat. But, we don't expect the kind of hail we had last week.

But, remember, with thunderstorms expect the unexpected so we will be keeping an eye on the sky.

Periods of rain will continue through the night and into tomorrow morning. The GFS is showing 0.88" of rain here, while the NAM is only suggesting 0.28". The truth is probably somewhere in between. The rain should taper off from west to east during the midday hours tomorrow.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY: Two beautiful days with ample sunshine and highs in the 70s.

THE WEEKEND: The GFS is now phasing a northern branch and southern branch system, and generates a very strong storm over Missouri over the weekend. The latest run suggests much of the day Saturday will be dry, but showers and storms creep in here by Saturday night, and for Sunday we will have to highlight showers and thunderstorms. If the phased solution is correct, there will be a threat of strong to severe storms here on Sunday. NASCAR fans, don't panic yet, things can still change. But for it does indeed look like we will be dodging raindrops, and maybe lightning bolts, on Sunday.

LONG RANGE: The longer range favors a mean upper trough over the eastern U.S. into early May, which would mean temperatures at or below normal here, generally speaking, as we get into the month of May. Hey, no problems with that for me.

TODAY: I will be on the road speaking to the students at Huntingdon Place Elementary in Northport today. I sure hope I have some time to hit the City Cafe in Northport. Will be back in the office by early afternoon and should be able to post the afternoon map discussion video on time by 3:30...