Showers were becoming more numerous over South Alabama late this morning. This is especially true over the SW part of the state where some thunderstorms were already in progress especially from Mobile and Bay Minette northward into Southern Sumter and Marengo Counties.
Over on the SE side of the state, there were some moderate to heavy showers from the SE corner of Alabama up to near Union Springs and Troy. Movement is toward the north. A more isolated moderate to heavy shower was over South Talladega County a little north of Sylacauga.
Showers were more isolated over the north half of the state, but they will be increasing.
Look for a number of significant weather alerts from the Weather Service as the day goes on. These are used when the NWS wants to call attention to some strong storms that have not yet become severe. Those storms could have some hail and strong gusty winds and maybe even some flooding. Look also for the possibility of some Flash Flood Warnings. I don’t believe there is a single square foot of completely dry soil in the state of Alabama.
HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK: NWS/Birmingham issued a statement calling our attention to Hurricane Preparedness Week. The season officially begins a week from today on June 1. NWS is issuing daily reminders of that with a different subject each day. The emphasis today is on Storm Surge. Often the storm surge causes as much damage as the wind as a huge wall of water surges inland. A wall of water is extremely powerful and can cause a lot of destruction.
SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES
A tropical storm or hurricane likes water temperatures 80 or better and they absolutely are elated when the water temperature gets to around 85. The warmest sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico that I could find late this morning was 80 in the east/central part of the Gulf. It was 79 in the mid-Gulf. Closer to the coast, the sea surface temperature was 76 12 miles south of Orange Beach.
