The Alexander City Outlook

Storms rattle South

Wednesday’s severe weather warnings turned into a reality for a few cities throughout the state, but Alexander City and other areas around Tallapoosa County only saw some strong winds and rains.

“We have a cold front moving into the state from the northwest and it is producing showers and thunderstorms,” said Birmingham National Weather Service meteorologist Aaron Gleason Wednesday morning. “There are a lot of strong winds and the environment is conducive for bad weather. There have been damaging winds at this point and a report of a possible tornado warning in Sumter county … there has been more than half an inch of rain across the state, which will be helpful to ending the drought. The tornado watch is in effect until 6 p.m. We also have a line of storms moving into the Montgomery area with possible damaging winds, as well as tornadic circulation.”

Later in the afternoon, The Record spoke with Kristina Summrall from BNWS.

“We have a strong frontal boundary cold front moving through the deep south and line of severe thunderstorms developed and moved across central Alabama,” Summrall said. “It actually started in southern Mississippi and moved across much of the south. We had several areas of potential tornadoes. We have a storm team out to survey tornado damage in Auburn and Montgomery.”

Summrall said the northwestern part of Tallapoosa County, between Hackneyville, Hillabee Creek and Alexander City, had an estimated rainfall of one and a half to two inches.

Alexander City received an estimated half-inch to three quarters of an inch of rainfall.

Goldville had a little over an inch of rainfall. Summrall said Camp Hill and Dadeville received higher rainfall as well.

Total rainfall, Summrall said, will be reported by Thursday morning on BNWS’s website after 7:30 with an overview of the state.

As for the rest of the week, Summrall said Alabama should expect the weather to cool off dramatically.

“We’ll see highs probably in the 50s tomorrow once (the cold front) pushes through,” she said. “Then we’ll have clouds overnight and it will start clearing out. It’s mostly clear and cool for the rest of the week.”

And while the rest of the week looks like it’s in the clear, Summrall said Sunday night into Monday has a chance for more showers, but there is still no severe weather predicted as of Wednesday.

“We are in what we call our secondary severe weather season, which is unique to Alabama,” Summrall said. “You just have to be aware of the severe weather. Most people focus on the spring and forget that this time of year we can see very significant storms. Keep an eye on things and pay attention, and we’ll be letting (everyone) know if anything is approaching.”