The system that moved inland over Southwest Alabama and Southeast Mississippi Saturday morning definitely had some tropical characteristics.
The folks on Dauphin Island will tell you that it did, with the western part of the island flooded with storm surge and sustained 40 mph winds reported by some folks.
Now that it is well inland, it has acted like a tropical system overnight with well defined rain bands wrapping around the circulation.
The main feeder band now extends from Winston through Walker, Jefferson, Shelby, Chilton and Autauga Counties.
The cell moved through Shelby County near Calera and Alabaster has been especially trouble, with a good amount of shear.
This storm has a lot of structure. Folks up through Pelham, Hoover and Homewood need to watch it as it moves northward. It could produce a brief spin up tornado.
The NWS has been monitoring it very carefully.
It is producing a good bit of brief heavy rain.
You get some heating later today, and the interaction between this tropical airmass and the non-tropical one is borders could get very interesting with some strong updrafts that start rotating due to the decent wind shear.
