http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb
The showers we had yesterday were certainly a welcome event even though everyone did not get rain. I got enough rain at my house to dampen the dust and that's about it. My friend Nathan Jones recorded a hundredth of an inch at his house which is only three-quarters of a mile from mine, so his dust was a little damper than mine. But there is still a little hope today as we will still see scattered showers. In fact, there are a few on radar at this writing over parts of Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Fayette, and Walker counties.
After today, though, we turn dry again. The Birmingham airport, the official observation site for the area, recorded only 3 hundredths of an inch of rain, so September, 2005, could still be one of the driest Septembers on record.
Note in the post below this one that we have a special statement from the National Hurricane Center on a developing tropical depression. That system should be a tropical depression later this morning or early this afternoon. I would not be surprised to see it become Philippe within 24 hours. Convection seemed very strong on the infrared satellite view. Computer models are suggesting that disturbance could stay east of the Leeward Islands which would be great news for the Gulf of Mexico. We just don't need to see a storm of any strength come into the Gulf where a large part of the central Gulf coast is extemely vulnerable.
I started the weekend off with some great music last night as my wife and I attended the Alabama Symphony Orchestra's performance at the Alys Stephens Center. It included the world premiere of music by composer Michael Torkee. It was wonderful and very uplifting to hear such fine music.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay safe.
-Brian-