Showers and storms continue over Northeast Alabama this evening...

They are over parts of Jackson and Marshall Counties, moving northwest toward the Huntsville area. None of the storms are very strong.

A few showers are over northern Lamar and southern Marion Counties in West Alabama.

Otherwise, things are calming down for a warm and muggy overnight across Central Alabama.

A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 5:45 p.m. CDT for Fayette County...

Strong storms continue over southeast Fayette County...moving northwest toward Fayette.

The storms extend back into northern Tuscaloosa and Walker County.

Other scattered storms are developing back across northern Jefferson, Blount, Etowah and Cherokee Counties.

A large area of scattered thunderstorms continue across West Central Alabama this afternoon...

They are mainly across Tuscaloosa...Fayette...Pickens and Lamar County.

The strongest storms are over Pickens County.

They are moving generally westward...some of them moving northwest...some southwest.

In East Central Alabama, the only significant storm is moving into Randolph County.

The storms are below severe limits...but are capable of producing strong gusty winds and brief heavy rains as well as deadly lightning.

Storms continue to grow and intensify over Central Alabama this afternoon.

No warnings are in effect at this time, but a few storms are candidates to become severe.

A quick rundown...

A moderate storm west of Rockford in Coosa County...moving south...

An intensifying storm in Shelby County between Calera and the Shelby County Airport...moving west...

Watch out for colliding outflow boundaries over northern Chilton and southern Shelby Counties...storms could fire in these areas...

Storms in Bibb County are moving north...have passed Centreville and are headed toward West Blocton...

Storms are bubbling up over Southeast Tuscaloosa County..heading troward teh City of Tuscaloosa...

One of the strongest storms in the state is near Greensboro in Hale County.

The stronger storms are capable of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. There have been been some indications of small hail on radar. All of them can kill you in a second with deadly lightning.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for southwestern Chilton County.

The storm is just southeast of Maplesville. It is moving west. It will pass just south of Maplesville, crossing US 82 shortly and Alabama highway 22.

Watch out for damaging winds in excess of 60 mph with this storm.

Other notable storms are just northwest of Goodwater in northeast Coosa County. This storm is moving southwest. The storms over southwestern Bibb and Hales Counties are also intensifying. The storm just south of Brent/Centreville could become severe soon.

Be on the alert for lightning with any storm this afternoon also...

Showers and storms have developed across Central Alabama this afternoon...

They extend from Randolph and Clay Counties across Coosa County near Rockford then on to southwest Chilton County between Maplesville and Billingsley.

More activity begins in Bibb and Marion Counties extending back into Marengo County. The strongest storm is just south of Brent and Centreville.

The activity appears to be moving westward. The activity is ahead of a weak cold front, and is being influenced also by an upper low in the Gulf.

Be alert for developing thunderstorms in your area this afternoon. They could become severe, with a threat for damaging winds from microbursts. The area from about Sumter to Chilton to Randolph County and south through Central Alabama is outlooked for a slight risk of severe weather this afternoon and evening by the Storm Prediction Center.

Also be alert for lightning. WHen you see signs of a developing storm near you, go inside immediately.

Remember that lightning victims can often be resuscitated by administering CPR immediately.

Temperatures have soared well into the 90s across the area. It was 95 at Birmingham at 2 p.m., 98 at Tuscaloosa and 97 at Anniston. Isolated storms

The Saturday map discussion video is on the web, and available on iTunes:

http://www.jamesspann.com/

Getting better with the video production but still need to do some tweaking and more training. I wanted to express my gratitude for everyone's patience while I got everything working again. It's amazing to me how different the Mac is from a PC and having been a PC person for nearly 30 years the transition has had a few stumbling blocks. I'm glad I decided to give the Mac a try, though, because it really is quite a machine. I'm looking forward to being able to do web video map discussions from some remote locations whenever I have the necessary Internet connection.

Interesting situation today. While there has been no real pattern change, the thunderstorm cluster which moved into Northwest Georgia yesterday afternoon has left a boundary that may help to focus thunderstorm development today. So people in the area from Huntsville to Anniston may see some increase in coverage of storms due to that boundary. Further south in Alabama, the Storm Prediction Center has most of the southern half of Alabama in the slight risk outlook - the main threat will be damaging wind with wet microbursts. That area is in response to a small weaknesses in the upper air pattern that can be seen moving west across the northern Gulf in the 500 millibar pattern.

The upper level ridge remains in place and quite strong for the first part of the week, but the GFS continued to give us some hope for a lessening of the heat and perhaps increased rain chances at the end of next week as the ridge migrates westward and shrinks a bit allowing the development of a fairly good trough on the east coast of the Nation. This development will put Alabama in a northwesterly flow which should shave 4 to 8 degrees off the heat. A weak front will also enhance rain chances perhaps by Friday or Saturday.

Until then the forecast remains rather monotonous with isolated showers possible each day and hot temperatures. Morning lows should stay around 73 to 75 with afternoon highs in the mid and upper 90s. By the way, five Alabama stations topped out in three digits yesterday. It reached 100 degrees in Decatur, Muscle Shoals, and Tuscaloosa with 101 at Montgomery and Troy.

Going to be heading down to the amphitheater in Old Town Helena this morning to Kidfest 2006 sponsored by WHIM, Women of Helena in Motion. The free event is designed for kids and families, so come on out and join the fun. I'll be in the dunking booth from 11 am to noon. Hey, my mother didn't raise a dummy - 100 degree heat is the BEST day to be in the dunking booth!!

Sunday morning map discussion will be posted by 8 am or so - I don't usually sleep very late!

-Brian-