AT 11:45 am: While most of Central Alabama remains dry with decent weather as we make the run-up to the midday hour on this first Monday of August, we do have a few storms over the extreme northeastern parts of the area. NWS Huntsville has just canceled the warning for Dekalb County and the warning for Cherokee County has been allowed to expire as the vigilante storm has now crossed the state line and moved into Georgia. We do have more scattered storms over the extreme eastern parts of the area, but these are not strong at this point.
Believe it or not, we actually have a level one marginal risk for severe storms up for the extreme eastern and northeastern parts of the area with damaging winds and large hail being the main threats. We’ve already had a report of quarter size hail in near Cedar Bluff with the warned storm that has exited Cherokee County. These storms are occurring in between the easterly flow off of Isaias and a stationary front across portions of the area. A few stronger storms may be possible, but as Isaias continues to move farther north, I believe we’ll see the risk for severe storms shrink with time.
There will be a very small chance of isolated showers or storms this afternoon for locations west of the I-59 corridor in Central Alabama, with slightly higher chances east of I-59. Scattered thunderstorms will remain possible from now through the remainder of the daylight hours for the extreme eastern parts of the area, especially from Gadsden to Alexander City to Troy. Afternoon highs will top out in the upper 80s to the mid-90s across the area. Once we lose sunlight, skies will begin to clear out and any shower activity will dissipate. We’ll be dry through the late-night and overnight hours, and lows will dip into a more comfortable range in the mid-60s to the lower 70s.
As for Invest 94L, it is located a few hundred miles north of the northern Leeward Islands, is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Marginal environmental conditions could allow for some slow development of this system during the next several days, with a tropical depression possibly forming later this week. This system is forecast to move northwestward at about 15 mph over the southwestern Atlantic today and on Tuesday, and then stall several hundred miles southwest of Bermuda by the middle to the latter part of the week.
the next update on Tropical Storm Isaias will be out at 1:00 pm.
Central Alabama Weather 