It was a wet October throughout the Tennessee Valley, but a forecaster in the National Weather Service Office in Huntsville, said it was far below the record set nearly 35 years ago.
Meteorologist Dave Nabler said weather service employees were closely watching a line of thunderstorms moving in from the west Friday night while much of the area remained under a tornado watch.
“Unless it rains about 5 inches tonight, October will not be a record,” said Nabler.
The Huntsville area has received 7 inches of rain since Oct. 1. Nabler said the record is 12.06 inches, which fell in October 1975.
“But it’s still been a wet October with rainfall about 3 1/2 inches above normal,” said Nabler.
Nabler said that most of the threat for tornadoes or strong, damaging winds existed Friday night below the Tennessee River.
“Behind the line it’s expected to turn cooler, but it shouldn’t drop much below 50 degrees,” said Nabler. “The severe threat will diminish behind the line and the rain should be over by mid-morning and clouds break up by mid-afternoon.”
Nabler said temperatures today would “struggle to get out of 50s.”
While residents in some Western and Plains states were digging out Friday after an early blast of snow, heavy rain and strong winds that toppled trees, power lines and church steeples lashed parts of the South, leaving one person dead.
The rain let up Friday, but the National Weather Service cautioned that the ground was so saturated that even a modest amount of additional rain could cause flash flooding from the western Gulf Coast to the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Heavy rain across Arkansas also stranded an unknown number of people in their homes, while strong winds damaged buildings and knocked over trees and utility lines.
In Pine Bluff, part of the roof of a Walmart store blew off during storms Thursday night. Among the damage at the First Assembly of God Church, the steeple was bent over by the strong winds.
“The steeple almost looked like a witch’s hat,” Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. Bob Rawlinson said.
Local News
October wet, but no record
- Local News
-
- Holiday closings
-
Memorial Day ceremony slated for Monday
The event, presented by American Legion Post 49 with assistance from the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Limestone County Event Center on Pryor Street.
-
Tornado artifacts sought for exhibit
Scientists at the National Weather Service in Huntsville are asking Limestone County residents to contribute to a historical and educational display about the tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011.
-
Schools chief is 'ecstatic' over job
Board members cited Sisk’s experience in handling personnel issues, his working for a large school system, his outgoing personality and his willingness to help obtain money to buy laptop computers for students as evidence of his promise.
-
'Significant' local arrests net drugs, cash
Limestone County deputies made what Sheriff Mike Blakely termed “significant arrests” with a Friday evening drug bust of a house at 817 Westmoreland Street.
-
BREAKING: Reward offered in Limestone burglary
-
MORE STORIES: Click LOCAL NEWS bar at top left
Click "Local News" bar at top left for more stories
-
Bills in meth trash lead to arrest
Trash included the portions of phone and cable bills that led investigators to the address of 43-year-old Larry M. Mason of Tuscumbia.
-
Space Camp celebrating 30th anniversary
The center is hosting a weekend of family-friendly activities and a reunion of Space Camp alumni on June 15.
-
Community colleges seeing declining enrollment
American Association of Community Colleges spokeswoman Norma Kent says changes in the economy are to blame.
- More Local News Headlines
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
