Tropical Storm Lee - Georgia Alabama Local Impacts September 4 2011

I will be keeping an eye on any severe weather, watches and warnings, and will be posting them as they happen to the best of my ability on my Facebook and Twitter page. Follow along there for any breaking events.

At 8 AM EDT Tropical Storm Lee made landfall just inland over south-central Louisiana around the
Vermilion Bay area. Lee still has winds of 45mph and is slowly drifting to the northeast at 3 mph. This northeast motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days with an increase in forward speed. As Lee continues on this track scattered to numerous showers with a few embedded thunderstorms are expected to spread northeast across portions of West Central Georgia this afternoon and tonight. There is the possibility a few short lived tornadoes could spin up in some of the more intense thunderstorms embedded within the feeder bands that will make their way through the area. This has been the case in areas to our west and south today.

The biggest concern from what will eventually become tropical depression Lee and then a low pressure system will be the rain associated with it. I, as well as others have mentioned over the past days of the heavy rains that will be moving into the area. While this is a welcomed rain event due to drought conditions, to much of a good thing can be bad. While much of the rain will be absorbed, depending on hourly rainfall amounts there may be localized flooding. The potential is there for areas prone to flooding from even heavy summertime downpours to become flooded for extended periods of time throughout this event over the coming days. If you live in one of these areas you should be prepared at this time for this possibility.

Not to freak anyone out, but computer models are hinting of the possibility of yet another tropical system forming in the Gulf of Mexico by this coming weekend and lifting north. This is not definite to happen but is something to keep in mind next weekend. If this were to occur, this could bring more high rain amounts in areas that will already be saturated from Lee possibly causing more flooding.

The track of Lee is expected to take it north through central Alabama to our west in the local area. On this track, Lee will continue to pull moisture form the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, there is a cold front moving in form the north that will interact with the warm moist air form the south. This may increase the risk of severe storms for Monday and Monday night. Again, an isolated tornado can not be ruled out during this time.

Rain amounts are still projected to be 1-3 inches with higher amounts possible for the local area depending on where the feeder bands set up and continue to move over the same areas [ training - usually associated with thunderstorms ]. You can see the amounts forecast for our area on my Temps / Precip Page. You can also check out the potential for severe weather on the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Products Page and see what the tropical systems are doing and where they are heading on the Tropical Weather Page. Be sure to hit the other links in the sidebar for Radar, Satellite and other data.

No Rain Again,Storms around the area - June 11 2011

A video and a couple pictures documenting the lack of rain at my location in Cataula, Harris County Georgia.

With storms firing all around the Cataula Georgia area, I again was left high and dry. I have now begun to call this area 'The Bermuda Triangle of Harris County'. I have mentioned on the blog that many areas not yet considered to be experiencing 'exceptional drought conditions' according to the drought monitor, to be experiencing localized 'exceptional drought'. My area being one of them.

This is a radar capture of the storms as the began to fire up at 4:54 PM EDT June 11 2011. During this time and afterwards, the radar filled in. If you only saw the radar, you would think it was raining.

A couple pictures showing I had no rain, yet again. Notice the time stamps.

And a condensed video spanning from about 5 PM until 8:30 PM. The only thing it shows is frequent lightning, storm outflow [wind] and you guessed it, 'NO Rain' other than a quick shower lasting about 1 minute.



Observed 24-Hour Precipitation, 1 PM EDT June 11 / 1 PM EDT June 12 2011

An enlargement of the area. See that 'white dot' just north of the Harris Muscogee county line ? Thats me.

At the Columbus Metropolitan Airport, they didn't fair much better June 11. They picked up 0.03 inches which puts the deficit at -8.22 inches for the year, so far. I'm much drier out here.

I followed and tweeted the movement of the storms. There are other tweets, but these are the ones concerning the local area. In order:

Showers and storms heading our way from the North, moving into Meriwether County. No warnings except for Heard CO. at this time.

Storms firing ahead of outflow boundary to our north almost to Harris county. No warnings

Storm to our north in Heard County looking impressive on Radar pushing 70 DBZ

By radar it looks like Harris county will miss the strongest storms at this time..stay tuned

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT:ADVISORY FOR DIME SIZED HAIL AND 40 MPH WINDS IN TROUP COUNTY UNTIL 500 PM EDT

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT:WESTERN LEE COUNTY ALABAMA UNTIL 345 PM CDT WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.

A little thunder to liven the afternoon. Showers and storms to our north and south,one popped up to my east heading my direction. need rain

Looked good on Radar. Stepped out,storm is between me and I-185 moving west. figures .. no rain yet.

Unconfirmed Reports of pea sized hail in Auburn

RT @jessica_hammack: Pea size hail at the Shops of Grand River in Leeds @spann http://yfrog.com/kex3isj

Radar as of 4:54 PM EDT http://twitpic.com/5a7y8g

Storm on Harris Muscogee county line still holding together moving west. Come on rain!

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Russell County in AL until 5:15pm CDT.

If it wasn't funny, I'd cry. Brief shower lasted a minute, now over. Video tomorrow on the blog.

Disappointing,storms all around the area and NO RAIN at the house other than the quick 1 minute shower mentioned earlier.

Social Media and Severe Weather

This is one example of why I use this blog, twitter and Facebook[here & here] for reporting / relaying information on extreme weather.

Social Media Praised During Southern Severe Weather

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Social media gained big praise during the deadly tornado outbreak on Wednesday which killed more than 200 people.

Within minutes of the first reports of tornadoes, sites like Twitter and Facebook exploded with people reporting tornado sightings.

With power outages growing, many people were able to get updates on the severe storms by using cell phones.

Soon after the storms slammed the area, pictures started surfacing on social media sites.

Officials in the area said the updates sent on Twitter and Facebook may have saved many lives.

source: koco.com