***NO Weather Xtreme video this afternoon due to the active weather***
You can scroll down to the early morning discussion I posted around 6:00 a.m…. that video is still valid.
Trying to warn for a small tornado in a rain band around a dying tropical system is always a difficult thing… our friends at the Birmingham NWS office felt the correct course of action was to issue a tornado warning for NE Tuscaloosa and Jefferson Counties based on some rotation in the lower elevation of their radar. That warning kept us on the air from around 10:45 until 12:25… thanks to Jason Simpson and Ashley Brand for their fine work in the weather office, and our reporters in the field as well. I can’t remember the last time we had to go into long form severe weather coverage.
Also, a big thank you to Tim Coleman for stepping in for blog duty while I was on TV and J.B. was on radio.
Despite the warning, a tornado did not touch down, and there was no damage. It sure made for a chaotic lunch hour in Birmingham… and we should point out there were two confirmed funnel cloud sightings in the Oak Grove/Concord area.
Big time rain has been the story again today… our SKYCAM up in Cullman is reporting 4.09″ since midnight! You can see the images and data from the SKYCAM network anytime here. J.B. will have a long list of rain totals a little later this afternoon.
REST OF TODAY/TONIGHT: The heavier rain will continue to move out of the state during the next few hours, and it sure looks like most of the rain will be gone by the time the high school football games begin tonight. Keep in mind, however, that an additional band of showers might form along our surface front to the north… so we can’t rule out a shower tonight.
THE WEEKEND: Still looks beautiful… low humidity, a fresh north breeze, and cooler nights. The GFS is showing 55, and the NAM 54 for Birmingham early Sunday. We still believe some of the cooler valleys up in Northeast Alabama could come in with 48 or 49 degrees. You will know we are in September this weekend.
The dry weather will continue into the first part of next week.
INGRID: The tropical system is expected to move slowly to the northwest in coming days, and by the middle of next week the NHC track has it still well to the east of the Bahamas, and well to the south of Bermuda as a weakening tropical depression. It will have a tough road ahead due to harsh winds over the system by early next week.
WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left.
WEATHER PARTY: Get all the latest weather news over on our sister site, WeatherParty.com. Be sure and register while you are there; you can submit stories and vote on them to determine what is published on the front page. This is a great way to find the latest weather-related news stories.
Brian Peters will have the Weather Xtreme videos over the weekend, and my next one will be posted bright and early Monday morning by 7:00… J.B. will keep the blog updated with fresh information as the day rolls along. I doubt we have any more tornado warnings, but if that is the case we will be back on our live stream and ABC 33/40-TV! Have a wonderful weekend…
