Plain Old Thunderstorms Moving Through Cullman County . . .

These are just plain old summer thunderstorms (technical name is "airmass thunderstorms") moving through Cullman County, spreading up into the city of Cullman at this late hour. I was talking to somebody who was enjoying the breeze and then came inside after the lightning got too close. 

These storms did get a little strong as they moved through Walker and Winston Counties earlier, producing wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour or so. No damage was reported to trees or anything, was just some of these summer airmass thunderstorms that got a little rowdy and then settled down. 

I hope all my readers know to get inside when they are close enough to hear thunder and see lightning. Some other stuff might be worth reminding people of, because recently I think the way I lost a computer (and a DVD player that hooked to a TV, same evening) is that I left them plugged up during a storm that had a lot of lightning. I dozed off without unplugging the laptop like usual. And when I woke up, it was fried. 

And it's a good idea to stay away from using anything electrical when there's a storm going on outside, even if it is just a regular old thunderstorm. A lot of times people forget the common sense stuff until they run into a problem. Like this time of year, if you hear about anybody getting killed from the weather, chances are it's going to be somebody out on a boat or out golfing or something who gets struck by lightning. And I mean around here in North Alabama and surrounding states. It's either lightning or a heatstroke this time of year if anybody buys the farm from a weather event. I'd say 9 times out of 10. 

But I mainly posted this to say, hey, no big deal. It's just a summer storm that happened to come in after dark. 

And I do not know why RadarScope automatically switched me to Columbus Air Force Base as the radar source for this loop, but they do have some issues in Birmingham and parts of Blount and St. Clair Counties, some flash flooding issues been going on down that way. But up in North Alabama, just general thunderstorms tonight. 

And even the stuff that pulses up and produces heavy rain, hail, or strong-enough winds to damage trees this time of year tends to be random. It's not worth getting worked up about like the organized severe weather we have in the spring months. Just use good sense and don't cross any flood waters if they happen. And move to a reasonably safe spot in your home if you get a storm with a lot of wind. 

From now through October is our calmest time of the year usually. 

After the drama of the Spring months, I just wanted to say hey, this ain't no super big deal here. Thunderstorms come and go.