Severe Thunderstorm Warnings are now in effect for Etowah, St. Clair, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Walker Counties. A very intense thunderstorm continues over the Birmingham area. At Birmingham Airport, winds were clocked to 69 mph at 5:14 and visibility was nil in extremely heavy rain.
LATER REPORT ON BIRMINGHAM WIND: Later observation from Birmingham Airport indicated a wind gust of 72 mph at 5:24 p.m. Visibility was still only a fraction of a mile in extremely heavy rain and continuous lightning.
* Intense thunderstorms also continue over North Tuscaloosa County near Windham Springs and Samantha. Those storms extend into SE Fayette County and SW Walker County.
This is one of those afternoons where you can almost assume if a vicious thunderstorm approaches your community that it is severe.
The lightning in these storms is exceptionally severe and almost continuous in places.
Another bad thing about these storms: they are moving so slowly that they pound away at the same community for a long time causing flooding and intense lightning strikes. Don’t be surprised to hear of someone’s home getting struck by lightning.
