Alabama Storms (5-1-04)

[Brett Adair]

Storms developed in multicell clusters before taking a a linear fashion around here yesterday afternoon. Around 23z ROAB data showed a slightly curved hodograph in the Birmingham area with a over 200m*2/s*2 increase of SRH from an hour before. This lead to some backbuilding "tail end charlies" and the development of a MESO-Low over the city of Tuscaloosa. Tornado warnings were required for Sumter and Pickens counties for some time last evening due to the enhanced rotation across the region. Some damage was reported east of Cottondale and Vance in Tuscaloosa county as the storm took on a strong bowing structure. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding were reported all across the region with totals exceeding 4" from the slow moving line in some areas. As storms moved towards me they weakened a bit with the loss of some diurnal heating, but a wonderful lightning show was still displayed. I ended up with 2.43" of rain from the system. The drought for now in my area is pretty much nil, but with hot and dry weather to return in the next few days the situation could return to the area quickly.