It would be an incredible night for sleeping if the weather weren’t so dangerous in spots tonight.
Some hefty rainfall amounts have occurred across parts of Jefferson and St. Clair Counties tonight. A fairly wide area of 3-7 inch amounts fell, with the main concentrations northwest of downtown Birmingham and over northeastern Jefferson into St. Clair County.
More heavy rain is falling late tonight generally east an southeast of I-459 from Lake Purdy to Leeds, Moody and Trussville. Rainfall rates of one inch or more per hour are falling over a fairly large area. And most of this same area has already received between 2-4 inches of rain.
As a result, flash flood warnings remain in effect for all of Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair Counties. For now the flooding threat is limited to extreme northwestern Shelby County into much of eastern Jefferson County then into extreme western St. Clair County.
The NWS will have to decide what to do with the flash flood warning shortly. My guess is that it will be reissued for eastern Jefferson and western St. Clair Counties.
And don’t look now, but widespread showers were forming to the southeast from Clanton up to Sylacauga. And this rainfall will traverse the same already soaked areas overnight, including the rest of the Birmingham Metro. It could be a long night folks.
Remember…turn around, don’t drown. Do not walk or drive into standing or flowing water. Most flash flooding deaths occur at night. Don’t risk. Check conditions and warnings before traveling overnight. And if you live in a flood prone area, be alert to heavy rainfall that could cause rapidly rising water.
Oh, and P.S. The folks at HPC predict another 3-5 inches of rain across North and Central Alabama over the next five days. Our now 7 inch rainfall surplus at BHM could be a foot by next Wednesday.
