A Quick Check on Our Weather at 6:30 pm; Tornado Watch Condensed in Area, but Expanded in Time

As of 6:20 pm, rain has almost completely ended for locations west of the I-59 corridor, except for those along the corridor north and east of Birmingham. South of that, rain and thunderstorms continue to push eastward across the area, with a section of the main line showing the potential for damaging wind gusts stretching from southern parts of Randolph County down to the western parts of Macon County. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is up until 7:15 pm for those locations.

There is also a big drop in temperatures occurring behind the line of rain and storms. It has already dropped to 39º in Haleyville and 48º in Tuscaloosa. Ahead of the line and cold front, it is 71º at both Troy and Eufaula, and 68º at both Anniston and Calera.

A new mesoscale discussion was just released, and it states that the severe threat is expected to be primarily limited to parts of east-central and southeast Alabama for the next few hours. Damaging winds and perhaps a brief tornado remain possible.

Most of the counties have been canceled from the current tornado watch, but the expiration time has been extended until 8 pm for Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Lee, Macon, Pike, and Russell counties in Central Alabama.

Unfortunately, it has been reported that we did have one fatality in the Sawyerville community, along with 3 critical injuries and 5 minor injuries. Our thoughts go out to those affected tonight.

We’ll stay with you until the threat has ended tonight.

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