The line of thunderstorms that developed along the cool front across Central Alabama this afternoon was in far South Alabama at 9 tonight and not as strong.

There was an individual thunderstorm, however, over Tallapoosa County.

The much drier air has still not reached much of Central Alabama. There is a 20-degree difference in dew point between Birmingham and the Cullman-Huntsville area. Low 50s in the Tennessee Valley but around 72 in Birmingham.

This will probably be out last update on this event.

Oklahoma City . . .

We got to Oklahoma City during the hottest part of the day, so we got to experience some good heat again once we arrived at the Oklahoma City Memorial. The Memorial didn't look exactly like I had expected when we first got there. All the pictures I had seen of the bombing on tv when I was younger made it look like it was a bigger site than it was. The federal building was just another building in the middle of a crowded downtown.

It took me longer than most of the group to walk around the Memorial grounds because I am one of those who has to stop and read everything. So I got way behind the rest of the group, and was left alone to think about what had happened there. It seemed to me to be a very appropriate monument to what happened. The most eerie part about it, though, was that the concrete plaza that led up to the building was still standing. The remains of the main part of the building had been demolished in order to make way for the memorial, and it was crazy to be standing right there at the edge of the plaza where the front doors had once been.

We left the memorial, and everyone was in a somber mood, but we perked up once we got to the Oklahoma City Holidome. The Holidome was nice as it had a pool, hot tub, pool table, video game area, workout room, etc., but it didn't have a putt-putt course. So, we headed to a course near the hotel.

There, another epic batte was staged between Jason and I. We played two complete rounds of putt-putt, and after the first round I was behind. In fact, I was very last in the entire group. In the next game, though, I staged my comeback. In fact, I had the best putt-putt game of my life, and I destroyed all of the competition by 4 or 5 strokes. The results of the two games were tallied and I was declared the overall winner. I began to celebrate and taunt Jason, as he had done to me earlier in the day, but all of the sudden my joy came to an end. There had been a miscount, and I had actually lost by a couple of strokes to Jason. It was horrible.

I felt better though once I had dinner. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and it brought me peace.

Next time . . .the trip home

Drew McCombs
ABC 33/40 Weather Intern
abc3340wx2@gmail.com

Main line of thunderstorms now way down in South Alabama from Washington, Clarke and Monroe County to South of Greenville.

But a tag-behind line of showers and some thunderstorms was further north across Central Alabama from Jemison to Rockford to north of Lafayette.

By far, the strongest storms were in the main line mentioned above.

Still others were lingering over Hale and Perry County.

Over North Alabama, dry air has won the war with dew points in the mid 50s with clearing weather.

Most places stayed in the 80s today but Tuscaloosa managed to reach 90.

Don Fleming, 3340 Weatherwatcher for Demopolis reported 0.63 rainfall when those storms moved through this afternoon.

When that cold (excuse me, I meant cool) front reached Central Alabama this afternoon, it started fighting with the warm humid air in that part of the state. A line of thunderstorms formed producing lots of lightning.

It is no longer a distinct line of storms, but some scattered strong storms continue from the SW corner of Bibb County down into extreme South Alabama. Probably the strongest storms at 4:45 pm were:

* over the SW corner of Bibb County near Pondville in the edge of the Talladega National Forest

* near Stanton in extreme SW Chilton County

* near Livingston in Sumter County

* near Butler in Choctaw County

* east of Evergreen in Conecuh County

These storms are still moving toward the south, but not quite as fast as earlier.

Meanwhile, over the north half of the state, the dew point has dropped low enough to give a tiny hint of autumn in the air. It was in the mid 50s over much of the north. That compares to 65 to 70 dew points that we have had recently. The weather has cleared over the north. By morning, do not be surprised to hear of some upper 50s temperatures in the North Alabama valleys. I will go ahead and take a stab at it:

58 in Hamilton
57 in Valley Head
61 in Pinson

Lightning detection equipment showed considerable lightning along a line of thunderstorms in West Alabama this afternoon.

At 3:15 pm, the line of storms extended from near Clanton in the middle of the state westward to near Demopolis and Livingston. Some folks are getting downpours.

These storms are along a cool front that is pushing south.

Behind the front, the weather has cleared over muchof North Alabama. Mid afternoon dew points were as low as the mid 50s from Cullman northward with brisk NE winds. Sort of a touch of autumn.

The front will continue moving south but places near the coast will still be subject to some thunderstorms tomorrow. Over the north, sunny with noticeably lower humidity.

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

http://www.jamesspann.com/

It is quite rare to talk about well defined surface fronts south of Birmingham in July, but we sure have that right now. The front passed through right on time, around 1:00 this afternoon.

For the Birmingham metro area, rainfall on the front was basically non-existent today. You often hear me talk about the uneven rainfall distribution with summer weather systems; that was the case this time. About three inches in Muscle Shoals to the north, and now nice showers and storms have formed on the front to the south along the U.S. 80 corridor. Scroll down and read J.B.'s posts on the rain situation.

All of Alabama is enjoying a nice break from the heat, however. At our SKYCAM site atop the Daniel Building in downtown Birmingham, the high today so far is only 82 degrees. Over at Mt. Cheaha, the high today so far is only 77 (along with whopping 0.04" of rain).

Dewpoints will drop tonight as the dry air continues to move into the state, and we should be in the 60 to 65 degree range by daybrak tomorrow. Some of the cooler valleys should reach the upper 50s; quite a breath of fresh air for July in Alabama.

We will be dry with mostly sunny days and clear nights through the weekend. Humidity values will be pretty low, and nights will be comfortable.

NEXT WEEK: Moist air returns, and we will bring back the chance of scattered, mainly afternoon and evening showers and storms. Temperatures should be near normal, with the mercury peaking in the 89 to 93 degree range on most days.

TROPICS: As stated here for the past several days, we will watch the northern Gulf this weekend as the old front stalls over that region. I would not be shocked if a tropical depression forms there; lets hope for a northward movement if that is the case and some good rain here. Not a forecast, just a wishful thought. Elsewhere, the disturbed area of weather over south Florida and the southeast Gulf is an upper trough, a feature continues to meander across the western Gulf of Mexico. But, there are no organized systems at this time.

LONG RANGE: The 12Z GFS offers no big change in the July outlook; "normal" seems to be the word here with temperatures and rainfall. The most intense heat should be over the western half of the nation.

JOIN THE PARTY: Check out our new website for a quick glance at the latest weather news:

http://www.weatherparty.com/

You are the editor; register and you can submit stories and links, and vote on suggested links to determine what goes on the front page. We are having a ton of fun with that site.

JASPER SKYCAM: The new Jasper SKYCAM is on the web:

http://www.abc3340.com/static/skycams/skycamsmain.html

We will be adding more sites in coming weeks, including Gulf Shores. Stay tuned!

The next map discussion video will be posted by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow!

Rain is about over for the north third of the state including Greater Birmingham.

A cold front (well, shall we say cool front) was bringing dry air to the northern counties this afternoon, The dew point has fallen as low as 59 over the extreme north.

Along and just south of the front, a line of showers and a few thunderstorms developed over West Central Alabama this afternoon. At 1:40 pm, the line extended from near Centrevile westward to Greensboro and Livingston. Moving toward the SE.

Lighter showers were over the East Central part of the state.

The weather has cleared in most areas north of Birmingham and temperatures were nothing like recent sizzlers. Instead, the ole thermometer was hanging very near the 80-degree mark.

Don't be surprised to hear of some temperatures in the upper 50s by morning in the normally cooler valleys of North Alabama.

You will also feel a noticeable drop in humidity Friday and Saturday. In fact that is being enjoyed by Tennessee Valley people this afternoon. The temperature was only about 80 in the Huntsville area, with dew point near 60 and north winds gusting to 24 mph.

Feels almost like a change-in season compared to our persistent heat lately. Causes people like me to start dreaming of October.

Tis about time to throw in the towel about getting any additional appreciable rain. The north third of the state had some good amounts overnight (not everybody) but much of Central Alabama stayed dry.

In my Tiny Corner of The World, it is still "crunch, crunch" when walking.

At 11:40 am, scattered patches of light rain extended from Walker, Blount and North Jefferson County into Dekalb County in NE Alabama and southward down the east third of the state to Tallapoosa County.

Moving toward the east and ESE.

Drier air with lower dew points spreading into the northern counties.

After today, next chance of rain not until some point next week.

Too bad.

Our hopes were high.

They have been crushed.

Might as well move to the desert.

Not me, I like a wet climate.

We are waiting with super patience as a band of rain keeps working toward the ESE ever-so-slowly through North Central Alabama. I am sure Molly and I could walk faster than that.

At mid-morning, scattered areas of rain were across North and Central Alabama. The rain was more extensive from near Hamilton, Double Springs and Jasper eastward to Cullman, Gadsden and Centre. However, the heaviest rain was over South Cleburne, Randolph and Chambers County in Extreme East Alabama.

Patches of lighter rain extend southward to south of Montgomery.

Everything moving toward the ESE.

Only sprinkles in Birmingham so far.

Howsomever, to steal a Snuffy Smith expression, a number of Alabama communities received very helpful and welcomed amounts. We all cheer these 24 hour totals:

0.66 at Anniston (Alabama Power Company Report)
0.95 at Collinsville
0.96 at Yates Dam (Tallapoosa-Elmore County line)
1.01 at Gadsden (Steam Plant)
0.53 at Harris Dam (Randolph County)
0.80 at Martin Dam (Tallapoosa)
0.65 at Mitchell Dam (Chilton County)
0.46 at Decatur Airport
1.83 at Muscle Shoals (36-hour total 2.14)
1.20 at Desoto State Park (one of my favorite places on earth)
0.40 at Cullman Airport (Vinemont)
6 drops in NE Trussville at midnight (I was out and counted them)

Is the whole world on vacation this week?

Since many of you were away on Tuesday... a reminder we have a great new episode of WeatherBrains posted, featuring Stan Goldenberg, a hurricane researcher with the federal government, and who has flown through the eye of hurricanes hundreds of times.

Stan talks about increases in Atlantic hurricane activity, as well as what may be ahead. And he has plenty to say about many of the reports circulating these days about global warming. Plus, Stan describes what it was like to be living through a direct hit by Hurricane Andrew...

And... if you want to see something funny check out this post on WeatherParty.com!