But there are still a couple...

There is a weakening thunderstorm between Clanton and Rockford.

The strongest storms are over Randolph and northern Chambers Counties in extreme EAst Central Alabama. This storm is capable of even producing some small hail, in addition to torrential rains and deadly lightning. It will also collapse at some point and produce a poewrful outflow. It will be capable of winds of 40 mph or higher when it does.

New showers and storms have formed nar the Cahaba River in northern Shelby County, along I-20 near Pell City and a storm just west of Wilsonville.

Storms will continue to weaken as we go through the evening hours...

Our strong storms over southeastern Shelby County and northwestern Coosa County have been producing torrential rains and horrible lightning for the past hour or so. Now the storms seem to be on the downhill slide with the huge amounts of precipitation aloft now collapsing to the ground. An impressive outflow boundary is spreading out from the storm in a huge arc from I-65 near Alabaster around to the interstate north of Clanton then over to Rockford.

People in advance of this outflow probably have been experiencing winds of 35 mph or higher, enough to bring down small limbs and blow around light debris.

Additional storms could fire just behind this outflow boundary as it lifts the air ahead of it.

A small storm is between Springville and Ashville in St. Clair County.

Another storm is along the Tuscaloosa/Jefferson County lines.

Finally, the Carroll County Georgia storm has back built over into Randolph County, Alabama. It is quite intense from Roopville, Georgia back over to near Wedowee.

Be alert to these storms and any additional ones thatmight form. They could pack deadly lightning, strong gusty winds and torrential rains.

Storms are isolated across Alabama this afternoon...but there are a couple of big ones...

The biggest is between Columbiana, Wilsonville and Talladega Springs. It is producing torrential rains and very dangerous lightning as well as strong gusty winds. It is moving southeast at 10 mph.

A cluster of showers and storms is over St. Clair County with the strongest part of the storm between Argo and Margaret.

Another storm is 17 miles north northeast of Northport in Tuscaloosa County.

The only other storm in Central Alabama is southeast of Montgomery.

Just across the Georgia border, a large cluster of strong storms is straddling I-20 between the Alabama border and Atlanta. Must be rough driving through there this afternoon. One of the strongest cells in near Carrollton in Carroll County.

The activity will wane as we head through the evening hours.

Only a small percentage of Alabama getting rain. At 5:25 pm, here is where some of the showers and storms were:

* Near Chelsea in Shelby County

* Near Springville in St. Clair County

* Between Gadsden and Fort Payne in NE Alabama

* around Montgomery

Nathan Jones, the 3340 WeatherWatcher for Helena reported from Oak Mountain State Park at 5:09 pm that heavy rain was falling, good amounts of lightning, winds estimated at 30-35 mph and small limbs were blowing through the air.

A slight increase in showers and thunderstorms during the last hour, but still rather widely spaced. The strongest ones, including some lightning, was along the DeKalb-Cherokee line in extreme NE Alabama, another one over Central St. Clair County and another one over NE Tuscaloosa County. There were some lighter showers scattered about elsewhere in places like Chilton County. Everything was moving slowly toward the SE.

Shower and thunderstorms quite scarce at mid-afternoon. Several over North St. Clair and South Etowah County but not very strong.

Also over Dekalb and Jackson County in Extreme NE Alabama.

...and along the Russell-Barbour County in SE Alabama.

All are moving toward the SE.

Your chance of getting rain this afternoon/evening is very small.

A few showers were developing across North Alabama early this afternoon, a possibly a few thunderstorms. The main ones were over Jackson County in Extreme Northeast Alabama.

A few were noted further south in Tuscaloosa and Blount County. The one in Blount County was NE of Oneonta.

LIGHTNING IS FRIGHTENING: A strange event over the weekend right here in Alabama. Lightning struck a moving vehicle on I-59/20 near the Epes exit in West Alabama's Sumter County. The bolt of lightning completely disabled the vehicle, probably ruining the electrical system. However, the passengers were uninjured. That is why it is essential if you are out in your automobile during an electrical storm to be sure and not touch any metal parts, such as door handles. In olden days, it was thought that rubber tires would be an insulator and prevent a car from being struck by lightning. That was a myth.

Little Miss Molly hides under the bed when lightning starts popping. If I could get under there with her, I would.

Sorry, I do not have the equipment to post a video discussion such as James does twice a day. However, here is a general discussion that may be helpful.

ALABAMA
No showers in progress at post time (10:30 am). The best chance of showers and thunderstorms today will be over on the east side opf the state. After today, a decrease for everyone in the state. Drier air will lead to some cooler nights with lows by Wednesday morning in the low to mid 60s. Probably the best news is a backoff in the extreme daytime heat. Upper 80s and lower 90s instead of high 90s and even the dreaded 100-degree mark. Some folks got good amounts of rain yesterday, others still high and dry. Examples:

1.04 inches in Crossville
1.69 in Sterrett
0.54 in Inverness
1.08 in Demopolis (until 2 days ago only 0.14 had fallen in June)
1.03 at Black Creek (NE Etowah County)
0.88 in Columbiana
0.94 at Greystone Farms (North Shelby County)
2.01 in Pell City
1.89 at Attalla (including 1.65 in only 30 minutes
1.70 in Alexander City
1.28 in Wedowee
0.63 in Clanton
0.50 in Livingston
1.75 at Rock Mills

ATLANTIC SEABOARD
Big time flooding problems. It is a real serious situation in some places, especially around Washington, Baltimore and in parts of Pennsylvania. We get a daily estimate of potential rainfall for the next five days in map form. Just look at this map:

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p120i12.gif

Notice that as much as 3 additional inches of rain is possible in Update New York and even greater amounts in Pennsulvania--especially around Harrisburg where there is a 6.40 inch bullseye. That is in addition to these amounts just in the last 24 hours:

11.50 inches at Federalsburg, Maryland
7.09 at Wahhington National Airport
5.86 at Dulles Airport
3.14 at Baltimore-Washington Airport
4.44 at Harrisburg
2.77 at Charlotte
2.71 at Atlanta (36 hour amount)
2.68 at Tampa

Boston has already received 9.91 inches this month and 32 inches so far this year...an excess of 12 inches!

HISTORIC FOREST FIRE SEASON?
Sure seems to be heading that way. As of yesterday, there were 28 active large fires in the West including 5 in Arizona and 7 in New Mexico. So far this year, 3,267,604 acres affected almost three times the amount at this same time last year.

TROPICAL WEATHER
This late morning discussion from the National Hurricane Center is interesting:

A BROAD AND DIFFUSE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDING OVER THE ENTIRE
FLORIDA PENINSULA... AND ADJACENT GULF OF MEXICO AND ATLANTIC
WATERS... IS MOVING NORTHWARD AT 5 TO 10 MPH. SHOWER AND
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS BECOME MORE CONCENTRATED OVER THE
NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS...THE FLORIDA STRAITS...AND OFF THE FLORIDA
EAST COAST... AND A SUSTAINED WIND OF 33 MPH WITH A GUST TO 42 MPH
WAS REPORTED ON GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND EARLIER TODAY. THERE ARE SOME
INDICATIONS THAT A SMALL LOW PRESSURE AREA COULD FORM OFF THE
FLORIDA EAST COAST TONIGHT OR TUESDAY MORNING... AND MOVE NORTHWARD
ALONG THE GULFSTREAM TOWARD THE CAROLINAS. HOWEVER... WHETHER OR NOT
ANY FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM OCCURS... THE THREAT FOR
HEAVY RAINFALL AND POSSIBLE LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL CONTINUE OVER
THE FLORIDA PENINSULA TODAY AND GRADUALLY SPREAD NORTHWARD INTO
GEORGIA AND THE CAROLINAS TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA... PLEASE CONSULT PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL NWS FORECAST OFFICE.