Less Heat & More Storms

Afternoon high temperatures today surged to the middle and upper 90s again in most communities; Muscle Shoals briefly hit 101º to tie another record high today, but Huntsville only hit 95º this afternoon. The extremely hot, humid air down here at the surface is providing a lot a fuel for these heavy, scattered afternoon and evening storms.

We have had a few reports of wind damage in isolated storms:

In Giles County, Tenn.

• 1 E Elkton [Giles Co, TN] public reports TSTM WND DMG at 05:15 PM CDT — fallen tree blocking baugh road just east of elkton.
• Hollie Billions in North Ardmore, Tenn. reported that she “had a big tree n our yard blown down down basketball goal garbage cans patio chairs knocked over and ladder up out of a truck and n the yard.”
• In Cullman County, I have heard reports via Twitter of a Texaco in the west part of the county that lost an awning.

The over-all intensity of these storms will fade as they move into North Alabama from Tennessee this evening. Frequent lightning, heavy downpours, and some gusty winds to 40 MPH are possible with any storm, but the risk of widespread severe weather is low for the evening/overnight.

In fact, we expect most of this thunderstorm activity to be finished by 10 PM (most likely before that).

Tomorrow brings another good chance of rain and thunderstorms to the Tennessee Valley; there’s a lot more on that at WHNT.com Weather!

The Storm Prediction Center does not have a “risk” area encircling the Tennessee Valley, but they do acknowledge a small chance (like that one we have had today) of a few storms that could grow strong enough to bring damaging winds and hail. In the heavier storms, more than an inch of rain is possible, but since the storms will be scattered, some communities will get soaked and others will barely get wet enough to settle the dust. Whether you get a lot of rain or not, temperatures will be cooler tomorrow thanks to more clouds, less sunshine, and the better scattering of storms.