We still have severe thunderstorm warnings late this afternoon for parts of Clay, Coosa and Talladega Counties and now add Tallapoosa to that list. Here is the existing warning, the new warning and the radar:
WATCH CONTINUES
…for Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Elmore, Lee, Macon, Randolph, Russell, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa [AL] till 9:00 PM CDT
BAD NEWS
25,000 Alabama Power customers without power statewide in the wake of the storms. 21,500 of those are in the Birmingham area.
GOOD NEWS
They are amazing at getting power restored. Thanks to the men and women who make this happen.
GOOD NEWS
The Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been cancelled for Blount, Etowah, Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair Counties.
BAD NEWS
Look to the northwest. That’s a tornado watch over Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. And those storms are headed our way.
The storms shown on the composite radar underlying the watch information match up well to the 18:00z run of the RPM model.
If you move that model output forward in time, here is what it looks like about 1:30 a.m.
That means confidence is pretty high that we will deal with more storms in West Central Alabama after midnight. They could be severe again with damaging winds and hail the main threats. That tornado threat in the watch area up north is pretty borderline and that should lessen as the storms move southeast.
Looks like it might be a long night in the Weather Office.
