Late this afternoon almost all of the showers and thunderstorms within the Alabama borders were over the SE third of the state. This was especially true over the extreme south where it was pouring rain along the Alabama/NW Florida border and also down into Baldwin County. There was more than enough lightning to go around. Other storms not quite as storng extended as far north as east of Troy and into the Phenix City area. Movement was slowly toward the SE. This is leaving most of the central and northern counties free of storms late this afternoon.
The National Weather Service has posted a number of Significant Weather Alerts this afternoon. Those usually refer to strong thunderstorms with strong winds, possible hail and strong wind gusts–in other words, they fall short of a formal warning.
Significant Weather Alerts are now in effect until 5:00 p.m. for Barbour County and there was one for Lee, Macon and Russell Counties until 4:30.
Here are some sample damage reports from South Alabama. None of the damage so far is major.
* In Autauga County, 5 miles SW of Mountain Creek, a tree was uprooted near the intersection of Autauga County roads 20 and 57.
* In Elmore County, 2 miles west of Wetumpka, a large tree fell onto Highway 14 west of Wetumpka. Two vehicles then ran into the fallen tree, but there were no injuries.
A BROADER VIEW
Late this afternoon there was another cluster of thunderstorms moving southward out of Southern Oklahoma into NE Texas. Scattered thunderstorms in Arkansas were headed south wanting to go to Louisiana. More thunderstorms were over the western part of both Carolinas and moving east.
