Alabama Update at 1 a.m.: New Flood Warning for Tuscaloosa/Cherokee Counties; Claudette 1 a.m. Info Also

The center of Claudette is south of Birmingham tonight according to the NHC. Top winds are 30 mph. The main impact is the rain.

There is some good news to report at this hour. While there is still a large area of moderate rain ongoing across Central Alabama, there are no torrential rains like we saw earlier across Tuscaloosa, Greene, Jefferson, and Marshall, Jackson, DeKalb, and Cherokee Counties across Northeast Alabama.

There is a lot of rainfall over eastern Tuscaloosa County, but the rain will be ending in the Tuscaloosa/Northport areas shortly. The Flash Flood Warning for Tuscaloosa County has expired, but there is lots of flooding still around. The NWS in Birmingham just issued a new Flood Warning for Tuscaloosa County that will go until 8 a.m. Expect similar treatment for the Jefferson County warning when it expires at 2 a.m.

Over Jefferson County, there is lots of rain over northern and western sections of the county. This will continue to maintain the flooding in those areas. Severe flooding is reported in Tarrant and in the Fairfield/Midfield areas of western Birmingham. Village Creek at Avenue W is at 13.72 feet and holding, which is only a foot short of the record of 14.8′. Additional rains could exacerbate this flooding.

All of the rain is generally stationary, while the entire area rotates in a counter-clockwise fashion. Our high-resolution models indicate that the rain should slowly taper off. This trend is borne out by infra-red satellite imagery, which indicates that cloud tops are warming slowly.

But this has been a storm of surprises, so we won’t count our chickens just yet.

Lots of heavy rain continues over Northeast Alabama where Flash Flood Warnings remain in effect for parts of Marshall, DeKalb, and Cherokee Counties. The Cherokee County warning was just replaced with an Areal Flood Warning. Same thing as a Flash Flood Warning, but after the water has already risen. Etowah County just went under a flood advisory.

Please remain off the roads overnight and early Sunday if you can and allow floodwaters to recede.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather, Tropical