At 3:20 a.m., here is the leading edge of that line of very strong thunderstorms that has been pestering most of North and Central Alabama all night. These are the same thunderstorms that were up in South Tennessee late Sunday afternoon and evening. Those storms absolutely love us.
But there is some great news in all of this. If you didn’t mind the thunder shaking the windows and the lightning popping all around, this gang of storms has brought a great soaking to a wide area.
At 3:20 a.m., the leading edge of the line extended from SW Jefferson County across North Shelby. From there eastward, the line curves down into Clay and North Tallapoosa Counties. Movement is steadily southward and it is still accompanied by intense lightning.
At Gardendale in North Jefferson County, winds gusted to 40 mph when the storms came through and they have received 2.50 inches of rain counting the first batch Sunday afternoon and the second batch which came tonight. Over in East Alabama,the storm total has reached 2.20 inches at Weaver as of 3:00 a.m. Up in NE Alabama, at Scrougeout, the estimated storm total so far is between 2 and 3 inches. There were a number of flash flood problems in the Tennessee Valley as the storms moved through.
WHEN CAN YOU GO BACK TO SLEEP?
If you live in the immediate Birmingham area, the worst of the storms are now south of the city, but lightning will linger. It appears that the morning rush hour will be mostly dry, although we are watching a second family of storms in Cullman County also moving southward. They are not nearly as strong.
Behind the curved line of storms in East Alabama, moderate to heavy rain is falling from near Alexander City all the way northward to Anniston. That means moderate to heavy rain over about 10 counties.
Everyone has been wishing sincerely for rain. This is a big answer. I have been wishing for sleep . . .
