8:00 O'clock Update

July 9, 2005, 7:13 pm
Posted by J.B. Elliott in Tropical Weather
Rating: 5/5   Votes : 1
That line of thunderstorms continues to move north through North Alabama.

At 8 pm, the line extended from North Tuscaloosa County eastward across North Jefferson to near Gadsden. Lots of lightning with these storms and locally heavy rain with gusty winds. Two rainfall reports:

1.42 inches in 40 minutes in NE Trussville
2.54 inches between Trussville and Leeds (reported by Justin Hindman, 3340 Weather Watcher)

But our main concern is Hurricane Dennis growing explosively in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

At 8 tonight, Dennis was centered about 275 miles south of Panama City moving NW at 13 mph. Maxium sustained winds now an amazing 125 mph with higher gusts.

The National Hurricane Center now believes he may reach a Category 4 before making landfall somewhere on the northern Gulf Coast Sunday afternoon. The most favored area seems to be the Alabama-Northwest Florida Coast. A Hurricane Warning is already in place.

If this does happen, it will be devastating.

More updates later...
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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:20 pm
JB

Had a big rain here in Coosa Co. VERY large tropical raindrops. 1.22" in about 30 minutes.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:38 pm
Traveling from Hoover a little after 7 pm and had to pull over - because of the heavy, heavy rainfalls.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:31 pm
I was in Gulf Shores in April-They were making a good comeback,it will be so sad if they have worked so hard for naught.And across the line into Florida where there were still piles of rubble everywhere and less constuction (someone told me it was because FEMA had not paid them yet).I would throw in the towel myself and get out of there

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:41 pm
Just looked at the sat pictures and this storm has a very good eye.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:52 pm
1.12 here in Helena so far. Heavest rain rate of 4.43/hr

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 7:58 pm
It's so funny how these showers fall. I live in South Pelham and haven't had the hard rain yet. I can be in Helena in 10 minutes yet my rain total is nowhere near an inch.

One question in all this, if the track inland stays as they forecast, what should we expect in the greater Bham area (ie Pelham, Trussville, Birmingham, etc)? I remember a good bit of rain from Ivan but not much in the way of wind. Should that be the case here? I'm only curious because Dennis seems to be a larger storm than Ivan was and his tropical storm force winds extend a huge 175 miles from the center.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:02 pm
That happened to me earlier this week. North Pelham had good rains and I only got a few drops.

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Posted by   www
on July 9, 2005, 8:13 pm
Check out the single loop sat. photo on the tropical page. A most impressive sight. This is a monster, and it's not even done yet. I predict a Cat. 5 at landfall between Mobile and Pascagoula.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:20 pm
Looks like some dry air may be trying to filter into the system... that will be a good thing.. however..look for NHC to jump it up to 130 or higher in a few minutes here.. Max FL wind from RECON was 122kt....yikes!

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:32 pm
Question?? If Dennis makes landfall as predicted - what will the approx wind speeds be here in Birmingham? Just wondering.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:43 pm
stephanie, I think they are talking 35-70, maybe gusts up to 80 or so. If the track stays west of the ala-miss border as it moves northward after landfall, we should be spared the worst of the winds here in B'ham. Let's hope so anyway! Ivan tore apart our neighborhood here in eastern B'ham...

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Posted by   www
on July 9, 2005, 8:40 pm
I suspect 60 mph sustained with higher gust's depending on where you are.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:49 pm
Hey Mike I agree with you I think it will be a cat 5.

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Posted by Greg  
on July 9, 2005, 8:49 pm
Throw out the current track! NHC is hinting to a change from NW to more NNW. Maybe due to earlier mentioned "wildcard" Low in the NW Gulf.

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Posted by  
on July 9, 2005, 8:51 pm
Greg, does that mean the center will track closer to B'ham?

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