Thanks for the info Viking. I hope you have no bad weather where you live. We are in tornado alley here. Storms usually come up from Tuscaloosa and travel to the northeast through the Bham area. The tornadoes that ripped thru here in 2011 actually bounced over our area. I had pieces of peoples homes raining down in the yard. My wife and I are monitoring it here. Started raining here about and hour ago. Keep me posted on how you and your family are doing. Take care and hunker down!!
As the crow flies, we're just up the street from Beauregard, where all those people got killed last month. I remember the twister of 2009 well. Last day of February, a Saturday, about 8 or so. Hit on U.S. 280 on either side of I-85. I was on my way to Opelika on a computer job and saw the wall cloud hanging down just a few miles to my south. 70 degrees, and the rain was torrential. When I got done, someone at the job site said yeah, a tornado hit just to our north and south, and skipped over us. I got in my van and did a little tour up and down the highway. It was like surveying a war zone. Whole stands of woods reduced to matchsticks, homes missing rooftops, a junior high school was ripped open, the works. I got home and checked the forecast - the Birmingham NWS said that the temp was going to drop a good 40 degrees by the next morning because the cold front that sparked the tornadoes was so strong, and there might be some wraparound moisture with it, bringing snow. My wife said, yeah, sure, I'll believe it when I see it.
24 hours later. We live in that little area in East Central marked 5"+:
That shut her up.