A Late Night Update On Dennis

He is a monster. He continues to grow stronger late tonight in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico some 300 miles south of Panama City. Here are some brief notes from a conference call with the National Hurricane Center, courtesy of the NWS Birmingham:

.....Landfall late Sunday afternoon
.....Dennis is now a major hurricane, a Category 3
.....He may be upgraded to a Category 4 on the next advisory
.....Storm surge up to 17 feet east of landfall
.....Concern about sand dunes lost last year in Ivan
.....Rainfall of 4 to 8 inches and locally up to 12 inches
.....Tornado Watch shortly for the Florida Panhandle
.....Much of the state of Florida under a Tornado Watch
.....Hurricane should maintain significant strength inland
.....Dennis may also slow down significantly after going inland

That last bullet point is worrisome. If Dennis slows down inland, we can't imagine how much rain will be dumped on the landscape.

After making landfall on the Alabama-NW Florida coast late Sunday afternoon, Dennis will move toward the north and NW passing through West Alabama into Eastern Mississippi. The earlier advisories indicated landfall fairly early Sunday afternoon, so this indicates a slowing down of everything. In Central Alabama, our worst weather now appears to be Sunday night through Monday morning and maybe longer.

In Central Alabama, we will have a risk of damaging winds with trees and power lines down. You can almost be assured of a Tornado Watch for virtually the entire state at some point during the northward trek of Dennis. These are the spin-off tornadoes that form quickly and don't stay on the ground very long. They are difficult to detect and warn for.

TONIGHT'S THUNDERSTORMS
The National Weather Service has posted a Flash Flood Watch for West-Central Jefferson County until 12:30 a.m. Thunderstorms in that area are moving little. It affects mainly the Minor community. These thunderstorms earlier tonight dumped 2.54 inches of rain between Trussville and Leeds, 1.43 in NE Trussville and 1.73 at Bill Murray's home in the south part of Trussville.

OTHER NOTES HAVING TO DO WITH DENNIS
The Pensacola buoy located 135 miles to the ESE, reporting ENE winds of 28 with gusts to 36 mph and 10-foot waves. The water temperature is 83.

Buoy 42036, located in the East Gulf 128 miles west of Tampa, reporting east winds averaging 38 mph with gusts to 47 and 17-foot waves. The water temperature 86.