It’s 6:45 pm and It Looks Like the Severe Threat is Over for the Southern Parts of the Area

Radar Check at 6:35 pm

The heaviest and most active showers and thunderstorms were lined up along and just west of the I-65 corridor starting right around Garden City (Cumman Co.) and stretching to the Alabama/Tennessee state line near Lexington and Anderson (Lauderdale Co.) There is another very active batch of storms in the east and northeastern parts of the area stretching from Rainsville and Fyffe (Dekalb Co.) to as far south as Borden Springs (Cleburne Co.). The rest of the activity is light and scattered at the moment.

While we still have a Slight Risk up for the western parts of the area and a Marginal Risk up for all of the rest of the western 2/3rds of the area, I do believe that the severe threat has come to an end for the evening for locations south of a line from Livingston to Clanton to Alexander City. The window for strong to severe storms continues until 9:00 pm for the rest of the northern parts of the area.

The good news is that while we did have some rotation in a few cells, we did not have any reports of funnel clouds or tornado touchdowns today in North/Central Alabama.

Latest Mesoscate Discussion from the SPC

At 5:29 pm: A recent uptick in convective intensity has been noted by increased lightning and transient rotation within rain bands over northern Mississippi/Alabama. A brief, weak tornado and strong winds gusts are possible with these storms, but given the isolated severe risk, a watch issuance is not anticipated at this time.

Convective cells are generally moving northward within rain bands of Tropical Depression Cristobal have exhibited some transient rotation. Additionally, an increase in lightning has been noted as breaks in cloud cover have helped destabilize and increase updraft intensity with cooler cloud tops noted. Low-level shear and observed vertical rotational signatures of 10-20 knots indicate a brief, weak tornado is possible with these storms. Strong wind gusts are also possible. The threat will likely remain into the evening, although it may begin to diminish once daytime heating wanes thus limiting destabilization.