That west to east band of thunderstorms continues late tonight from East Central Mississippi into West Central Alabama with West Jefferson County on the east end of the group.

Weird movements.

The band is expanding somewhat northward and a little to the south. The eastern-most storm in the group located west of Birmingham has actually started moving back to the SW.

Tuscaloosa County has caught a lot of this action tonight. A report from the Woodland Hills section of Tuscaloosa tells of 3.10 inches of rain in the last 24 hours with heavy rain continuing late tonight.

We think these storms will slowly diminish.

A review of sea water temperatures along the central Gulf coast yesterday revealed 92 degrees at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (on the Alabama coastline in far south Mobile county), and 91 degrees at Pensacola. That is a tremendous amount of latent energy stored in the ocean, which is just what tropical systems love to feed on. You have to wonder if that is a troubling sign for August and September. We sure hope not, but you can’t ignore those numbers.

Some of the computer models are actually hinting at low surface pressure just off the coast early next week, and there certainly is some possibility a system could form just south of the central Gulf coast. The system that has most of our attention is a strong wave that is about 350 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. The system should become tropical storm Harvey during the next 36 hours, and the computer models have the system moving toward the Bahamas during the next few days. A ridge should begin to build north of the system early next week, possibly turning it westward, toward the eastern coast of Florida by mid-week. Our friends all the way from Jacksonville to Miami will have to watch for this one, and of course, if the westward motion does develop and become persistent the thing might even wind up in the Gulf of Mexico.

On top of all of that, there are two other waves in the eastern Atlantic that bear watching. Nothing organized now, but the train is on the tracks, and all of these waves most likely mean an active core of the tropical season, which is in August and September. What happens if we run out of names? The National Hurricane Center will go to using the Greek alphabet. Hurricane Alpha? You have to wonder. This could very well be a tropical season to remember.

At 9 pm, they were moving into West Alabama's Pickens County.

Out ahead, new individual thunderstorms were forming over East Tuscaloosa County and another one west of Birmingham.

Earlier cluster of thunderstorms still over East Central Alabama.

Everything showing a slow eastward movement.

Storms producing very heavy rain.

They extend from NE Alabama down into Coosa County and southward.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Coosa County in East Central Alabama until 8 pm. Storm was near Rockford taking it's time moving east at 5.

Not only danger of damaging wind, but tons of lightning and very heavy rain.

Not much going on around Birmingham-Tuscaloosa area.

But more storms developing over East Central Mississippi.

Some of today's rainfall amounts later

Hope you don't mind me writing in incomplete sentences. Can get information out quicker.

Also lessens the chance of typos.

Strongest thunderstorms have now shifted over into NE Alabama down through the central part of the state.

Places like Fort Payne, Gadsden southward through Coosa, Chilton and Lowdnes County.

Very heavy rain and much lightning.

Lighter showers now around Tuscaloosa where it was pouring earlier.

Birmingham Metro may miss the heaviest stuff. Passing east and south.

2+ inches of rain in parts of Tuscaloosa County and probably like amounts in a whole bunch of communities.

Here are some of the areas getting the heaviest rain in Alabama late this afternoon:

North Tuscaloosa County
Bibb County (for second day in a row)
Central Shelby County
Wilcox County
Dallas County
Perry County
Montgomery County (where a Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect)
Jackson County
Dekalb County
Cherokee County

Again today, they are slow-movers

Over two inches of rain in parts of Tuscaloosa County

Thunderstorms becoming more numerous and heavier in West Alabama this afternoon.

At 4pm, strong thunderstorms extended from Tuscaloosa County southward across parts of Greene and Hale County, to near Demopolis in Marengo County and on southward to Clarke County in SW Alabama.

They were moving east.

Have a report from Taylorville, just south of Tuscaloosa. At 4 pm, they had received 1.19 inches of rain in only 20 minutes along with much lightning.

The Thursday afternoon map discussion video is on the server:

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

Well... we have lost communications with the radar on Double Oak Mountain again. Guess I was bragging too soon... Bellsouth still working on the issue. Very frustrating. But, you can use NEXRAD from the Shelby County Airport as a backup, like we do here in our office.

The cool and dry Canadian air north of us won't make it into Alabama, as we have been expecting. Very, very hard to get a surface front through here in late July. The front stalls out near the Tennessee border, and we will continue to mention scattered to numerous showers and storms tonight and tomorrow. For the weekend, mixed sun and clouds Saturday and Sunday with scattered, mainly afternoon storms. Heat no big problem here; highs will be in the 87 to 90 degree range over the next few days.

TROPICS: Very interesting. The models are hinting at some kind of "back yard" depression or storm forming in the northern Gulf early next week. The water sure is warm now just off the coast, and upper winds could be fairly favorable by Monday or Tuesday.

Franklin is moving out to sea, and is no threat to the U.S. mainland. The system is now east of New Jersey.

A strong wave around 20 N and 50 W has the potential to become tropical storm Harvey. The initial motion is generally northwest, but the models bend the system back to the west late in the weekend as a ridge rebuilds in the wake of Franklin. This system could take a path like Andrew, moving in the direction of Miami, then cutting across south Florida and winding up in the Gulf of Mexico. Very, very early in the game here.

And, we have two more waves in the eastern Atlantic... looks like a busy month ahead.

Lots of questions about the weather on the central Gulf coast next week since many folks will be taking one last beach trip before the beginning of the new school year. Tropical systems could be involved down there... but we simply can't tell you right now the specifics. Will there be a system that forms just south of the coast early next week? Or, will Harvey cut through southern Florida and be an issue toward the end of the week. Or, maybe both situations happen? We will just have to wait and see...

Our live Pinpoint Doppler Radar is back online... hopefully for good. Thanks to our pals at Bellsouth for their help in getting the problem corrected...

They were slow-moving thunderstorms.

At times they just stopped and did not move for quite awhile.

In some places, the storms paused and then back-tracked.

So...let's look at some rainfall totals:

1.17 inches at Logan Martin Lake
1.61 at Childersburg
1.76 at Cordova
3.52 at Carbon Hill
2.33 at Ellisville (Cherokee County)
1.36 at Oak Grove (West Jefferson County)
1.10 in Bessemer
1.06 in Pell City
1.11 at Greystone Farms (North Shelby)
2.01 in Brent
2.51 at Black Creek (NE Etowah County, see notes at the end of this report)
1.69 at Crumly Chapel
0.80 at Shelby County Airport
0.00 at Helena (that spells none)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

.....I could not keep from laughing at Nathan Jones when he filed his report from Helena. "Heavy rain was very close but didn't get a drop in the rain bucket." Nathan has said that several times this summer when he was needing rain. Maybe he needs to hang out a rain welcome sign.

.....Vic Bell, the ABC 33/40 WeatherWatcher for Black Creek reported that almost all of the 2.51 inches of rain fell in only one hour, between 5:30 and 6:30 pm.

.....Several Flash Flood Warnings were issued. In Oneonta, Blount County, one foot of water was reported in and around the intersection of Alabama Highway 75 and U. S. 231. Several business establishments took on water including a nursing home, auto shop and grocery store.