Widely separated thunderstorms were developing in various parts of Alabama this afternoon. This is so typical of summer in the Deep South. At 1:40 p.m., if you could push all of those storms into one corner of the state, it would not be enough to cover Tuscaloosa County.
Bottom line: only a few folks are getting rain at the moment. The thunderstorms will increase in number as the afternoon goes on and finally thin out late tonight. The strongest storms early in the game were near the Coosa/Tallapoosa line in East-Central Alabama. A strong thunderstorm was 2 miles east of Cleveland Crossroads and was nearly stationary. NWS/Birmingham says it may become strong enough to produce dangerous lightning and wind gusts 35-45 mph.
In some cases, the storms yesterday grew rapidly and uprooted some trees and caused some scattered wind damage.
We cannot tell you this early in the game where the strongest storms will be, but anywhere in North and Central Alabama you have about an equal chance.
Other storms at 1:40 were forming at Centreville, Montevallo and Columbiana in Bibb and Shelby Counties and still others between Double Springs and NW Cullman County. Again today, it will be impossible to pinpoint where every little storm is located. We will continue to outline the main storms and tell you the possibility of some strong winds.
Remember, lightning is frightening. If lightning comes close to my house, Little Miss Molly dives under the bed and sometimes I would like to dive under there with her. I don’t like lightning at all.
