PROGRESS REPORT ON SEVERE WEATHER---4:25 pm

SOME LATE NOTES ON SEVERE WEATHER

.....Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were posted for Walker, Cullman and Etowah, but no reports so far of damage. I talked to the EMA directors in Etowah, Walker, Cullman and Blount Counties. They report no known damage and no reports of large hail.

.....However, earlier marble-sized hail was reported on Strait Mountain along the Blount-St. Clair County line by Curtis Atkinson, a meteorologist visiting his family in the area.

.....Much of the action this afternoon has been around the Montgomery area where 1 or 2 tornadoes were observed on the ground. So far we don't have reports of confirmed damage, but those will probably follow later.

.....Much, much rain in parts of East Central and SE Alabama last night and again today. Flash Flood Warnings were posted this afternoon for Montgomery, Macon, Elmore and Chambers Counties. Last night as much as 6 inches of rain fell in some areas and more downpours today. There have been several reports of road closures this afternoon.

.....The Tornado Watch continues until 5:00 this afternoon. An up-to-the-minute radar check at 4:30 p.m. shows that most of the stronger storms have shifted over on the east side of the state. In the Birmingham-Tuscaloosa area and westward, there is very little going on now. Cooler and drier air was spreading into the western part of the state.