Thunderstorms have intensified over East Alabama late this afternoon...

The activity is mainly over Clay and Randolph Counties. It will be moving ESE into northern Tallapoosa and Chambers Counties.

There are new strong storms over Kemper County Mississippi, just across the line from Sumter County. They are moving slowly east.

Thunderstorm activity over Alabama has diminished or move into Georgia this afternoon.

Showers continue moving eastward over Cherokee... Calhoun.... and into Talladega Counties. New development is noted over Clay County.

Activity over West Alabama has disintegrated.

Just across the border in Mississippi, a cluster of storms is moving into Pickens and Sumter Counties. It remains to be seen if this activity will hold together as it enters Alabama.

Additional showers and storms could develop overnight, but coverage is expected to be scattered at best. More strong storms could develop tomorrow afternoon.

A line of thunderstorms continus moving eastward across Northeast Alabama this afternoon.

The activity extends from near Ashville in St. Clair County to just west of the city of Gadsden to just west of Fort Payne.

This activity contains brief heavy rains, deadly lightning and gusty winds.

Another storm is on the Clay/Randolph county line northeast of Lineville and a stronger storm near Ranburne is exiting into Georgia.

Activity over West Alabama has diminished. Showers continue over parts of Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Pickens and Greene Counties, but it is not especially significant. A storm over Macon county, Mississippi is poised to move into Pickens County, Alabama later.

Conditions will remain ripe for a few overnight showers and storms, lasting into tomorrow morning, with another fairly good chance of storms again Monday afternoon. They could be storng tomorrow afternoon.

A strong thunderstorm is over northeastern Jefferson County...

It is centered about 5 miles northwest of Pinson. It is moving southeast at 10 mph.

It will pass near Pinson, Chalkville, Trussville and Argo.

I am observing continuous thunder to my distant north from my location here in Trussville.

The storm will be accompanied by brief very heavy rains, dangerous lightning and gusty winds.

Move inside as this and any other storms approach your location.

Showers and storms continue across the area this afternoon ahead of an upper trough...

Overall intensity is down during the past hour...but storms will be capable of forming and growing quickly to produce dangerous lightning, brief heavy rains and even some damagin winds possibly this afternoon.

Line one extends from easterm Madison and Marshall County...down through Cullman.... Blount... Walker... Jefferson... Tuscaloosa... Pickens and northern Greene Counties. In this zone, the heavuest storms are in Cullman county...from Cullman down ot Garden City...in northeasern Jefferson Count...near Morris...moving southeast... along the Walker/Jefferson County line about 30 minutes west of Adamsville... along I-59 west and southwest of Tuscaloosa. And the strongest of all right now in Pickens and northern Sumter Counties from Pickensville down to Geiger.

Other strong storms are over eastern Alabama. One is northeast of Fort Payne. The other is north of Annitson.

Check your favorite radar for the latest up to the minute picture.

Showers and thunderstorms continue across North and Central Alabama this afternoon...

The are occurring in two main arcs...

The first is from Limestone and Morgan Counties through Cullman, Walker, Tuscaloosa and into Pickens Counties.

The second is from Jackson and DeKalb Counties down through Etowah, Calhoun and St. Clair Counties.

The heaviest storms are in Tuscaloosa County, about 15 miles NNE of downtown Tuscaloosa and 20 miles NW of downtown Tuscaloosa.

Other notable storms are near Falkville in southern Morgan County...over Walker County just north of Jasper....and a growing cluster just north of Ohatchee.

Storms this afternoon will contain brief heavy rains (no one complaining there,) dangerous lightning and even some potentailly damaging wind gusts.

Showers and storms are growing in coverage and intensity across North and Central Alabama this afternoon.

Just after noon...the strongest storms were over Pickens...Tuscaloosa...Lawrence and northern marshall Counties.

Showers that are becoming storms are over downtown Birmingham...Walker County...and near Boaz in Marshall County...

Showers are fairly numerous over the remainder of the northern half of the state. Check the radar to see if your community is in line to get a shower or storm soon. The activity is moving generally east.

Look for some strong storms this afternoon. There will likely be a few warnings.

Showers are beginning to form in the I-20/I-59 corridors across Central Alabama...

Showers were building over Pickens, Tuscaloosa and Jefferosn Counties. Other newer and smaller showers were over St. Clair and Etowah Counties.

The showers will quickly grow into storms. Dangerous lightning, brief heavy rains and even localized damaging winds will be the problems.

The activity is moving ENE.

If you are outside...be ready to move indoors at a moments notice if a storm forms near your location.

Remember...lightning is a real killer in summer in Alabama...

Scattered thunderstorms will develop across the area this afternoon and overnight in advance of an upper level trough that will be passing through.

Look for potentially strong storms this afternoon across the area with a fairly high potential for isolate damaging wind events with the stronger storms.

If you will be outside this afternoon working or playing, be alert for building thunderstorms nearby. A darkening sky, freshening wind and towering cumulus clouds signify a forming thunderstorm. Move inside until the storm passes.

The Sunday map discussion video is on the server at:

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

What a great time I had yesterday at the safety fair put on in Hamilton by the Marion County Emergency Management Agency. Matt McCracken, EMA Director for Marion County, invited us to participate, so I took the Storm Chaser up there along with some severe weather safety information. About 400 folks stopped by during the three-hour event to take a look at the Chaser and chat about the weather. And the weather was superb with lots of sunshine and a gentle but steady breeze.

Looks like the weather pattern is settling into a fairly typical summertime pattern for the next several days. The trough over the eastern US is weakening and pulling off to the northeast today and Monday while a very large upper level high pressure center will build into and across the Southeastern US. With a southerly flow near the surface and high pressure aloft, we can expect to see isolated storms today with scattered storms for much of each day during the upcoming week.

The current GFS model run brings another trough to the eastern US on Friday, however, this one does not seem to be strong enough to cause a major impact on our weather pattern. We might see a front drop into the Ohio Valley at the end of the week, however, it will lose upper support and wash out before getting into Alabama.

The GFS is dangling a bit of a carrot for the rain-starved Southeast. At 360 hours or July 23rd, the GFS develops a very strong trouch over the eastern half of the Nation. If this were to happen, it would mean another cold front blasting through Alabama with enchanced rain possibilities and another shot of cooler, drier air. The caveat, as you might imagine, is that we are talking about 360 hours out, so I really don't have much confidence in this pattern coming true. But we'll be watching the trends to see if this solution is maintained.

James Spann will be back tomorrow with his usual two-a-day map discussions. I'm going to be getting ready for another camping trip to one of my favorite spots, Mt. Cheaha, so I'll be out of commission for next weekend. I'll try to make a Blog post or two from Cheaha.

I hope you have a great week. Stay cool! God Bless.

-Brian-
PS If you want to see all the pictures Matt took at the safety day in Hamilton, go to

http://www.marioncert.org/Community%20Preparedness%20Day%202006.htm