I am a very big fan of weather folklore. Someone asked me the other day about a piece of folklore that they had heard. They asked me if there was any truth to it. The specific piece they mentioned had no merit, but sometimes some of the craziest ones you might think of do have some scientific basis. Since it is the first of May, I thought that I would examine a couple if relate to May weather.

After a rain on May 1st, you can predict twenty rainy days during the month. No merit to this one, just sounds fun. No problem for us this month, eh?

Hoar frost on May 1st indicates a good harvest. Not around Alabama, for sure. Frost on May 1 spells an agricultural disaster in these parts.

Rain on May 1st foretells extremely dry weather. Kind of contradicts the first one. Alright, we can ue the rain, since we are still over three inches behind for the year.

The fair maid, who the first of May, goes to the fields at break of day and washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, will ever handsome be. Got any hawthorn trees out there?

A dry May is followed by a wet June.

A cold May will fill your barns with grain and hay.

A windy May makes a fair year.

The more thunder in May, the less in August and September.

Been awake for 26 hours except for a 45-minute nap...so I am going to fold up and head to the Big Bed for a few hours.

The line of strong to severe thunderstorms has moved way over into East and South Alabama. No more severe weather threat for North and Central Alabama.

Numerous reports of damage but at this time i don't know of any major structural damage. Lots of trees and powerlines down across numerous counties. Some scattered roof damage...and reports of a few homes unroofed in the Coates Bend area of Etowah County.

Some roof damage in Helena/Shelby County also.

Appreciate very much the input overnight. You are welcome to continue adding any reports you have in the comment section below.

Sorry there was one lapse while I was doing wall-to-wall radio broadcasts during the tornado warnings.

I must rush to bed before Little Miss Molly wakes up.

...Life goes on

.....Trees down in Patton Chapel area.
.....trees down along county roads 41 and 65 in Cherokee County
.....Power went out at Talledega Speedway
.....houses unroofed in Coates Bend area of Etowah County
.....Gusts 50-60 mph at Shelby County Airport
.....Large trees down Navajo Hills subdivision in Alabaster
.....Trees down in south part of Pelham
.....Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Cleburne County untill 6:30
.....Winds estimated 50-60 mph by the Winterboro Fire Department
.....Trees down at a number of locations around Tuscaloosa
.....Police report numerous trees down in Helena
.....Trees down on house in Pelham

This is only a partial list!

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Calhoun County until 5:45
Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Chilton County
Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Talladega County

Tornado Watch until 10 am for much of Central Alabama

For places like Tuscaloosa...Walker...Pickens...Jefferson...the strongest storms now east of the area

Tornado Warning for Walker Countu expired at 3:30 and was not extended.

Tornado Warning for Pickens County in West Central Alabama until 4:15 am. The suspected tornado was near Pickensville...in the extreme west edge of the county moving eastward. If this storm does not weaken, a tornado warning may be needed for Tuscaloosa County later.

New storms forming out ahead of the main line across Jefferson County.

Tornado Watch continues until 10 am

Have been doing wall-to-wall radio coverage with the Walker County Tornado Warning...so I may get behind at times with the blog.

Roating wall cloud reported by trained storm spotter 7.2 miles north of Jasper around 3:10 am.

Walker County EMA Office does not have any known reports of damage in Walker County as of 3:06 am.

Scan down for earlier reports and for the new Tornado Watch.

A Tornado Warning for North Walker County including jasper and for North Central Fayette County.

Tornado expected to be near Carbon Hill around 3 am and just north of jasper around 3:20.

New Tornado Watch for Central Alabama until 10 am...the counties:

counties included in the watch are lamar, fayette, walker, pickens, tuscloosa, sumter, greene, hale, perry, dallas, marengo, bibb, chilton, jefferson, shelby, blount, st. clair, talladega, etowah, calhoun, and cherokee counties until 10am

Significant Weather Alert Winston and Walker County due to wind.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Fayette County until 3 am.

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was in effect for a short time for Cullman and Morgan County

A new Tornado Watch will be issued soon for Central Alabama that goes until 10 am.

Wind gusts to 53 mph at Huntsville Airport.

The NWS issued a High Wind Warning for areas to the east.

At 2:30 am, the line of thunderstorms extended from Huntsville southwestward to Cullman...NW Walker County...North Fayette County...to near Vernon in Lamar County to Columbus, Miss.

Line moving steadily eastward.

Line of strong thunderstorms now in NW Alabama. The line extends across North-Central and Central Mississippi into NE Louisiana.

In NW Alabama, strong thunderstorms now from Lamar County north into Marion, Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale Counties. Lots of lightning. These storms will be moving into Winston and NW Fayette Counties soon.

"Significant weather alert" for Southern Marion and Lamar Counties due mainly to wind. This is short of a severe thunderstorm warning.

Have been scanning reports and I don't see any indication of any major damage so far tonight. There has been scattered damage around Greenwood, Mississippi along with some baseball hail in the area. Hail up to 2.75 inches in diameter earlier tonight at Bastrop, Louisiana.

The cold front has now passed Memphis. They are down to 57 degrees.

The time line for Alabama still seems on track as outlined in our earlier post, maybe reaching Birmingham as early as 3:00-4:00 a.m. and to the racetrack at Talladega one to three hours later.

We are here for the duration as long as the coffee holds out. Stay tuned.

Earlier this month, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) introduced a bill that would limit some of the duties of the National Weather Service. He introduced the bill because of a policy change in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration implemented in December. The change rescinded a 1991 provision that restricted the National Weather Service from providing products and services that compete with private weather forecasting firms. This includes specialized forecasts for farmers, marine interests, utilities and business.

Read the bill here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-786

Proponents of the bill say that the National Weather Service wastes money on providing services that are already being provided by the private sector. They say that certain activities take away from the National Weather Service’s core mission of collecting data, maintaining a modern meteorological network and issuing forecasts and warnings for severe weather.

Opponents say that private weather forecasting firms, which will benefit from the bill, are attempting to use a pro-business administration to unfairly limit their competition. Private firms respond that they have no such intention, and that the 1991 measures led to a healthy explosion of weather forecasting companies and products that have benefited the public.

Santorum’s bill, called the National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005, is now in the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

What do you think? [URL][/URL][URL][/URL]