Tropical Storm — Lowndes, Alabama

2020-10-29 · Lowndes, Alabama

Event narrative

Numerous trees uprooted and power lines downed across the county.

Wider weather episode

Tropical cyclone Zeta developed over the Western Caribbean Sea on Saturday, October 24, and slowly moved west. The tropical storm emerged into the Southern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, October 27th. Zeta turned northwest and became a hurricane on Wednesday, October 28th. Zeta made landfall in southeast Louisiana late on Wednesday, then moved northeast into southwest Alabama late Wednesday night. The hurricane weakened to tropical storm strength as it tracked into the southwest counties of Central Alabama early Thursday morning. The cyclone increased its forward speed with time as it tracked northeast across Central Alabama.

Zeta produced wind gusts over 40-50 mph with some with some locations experiencing gusts of 50-70 mph. These winds caused widespread tree and power line damage across southwest, south-central and east-central parts of the state. Rainfall totals were generally in the two to five inch range, with locations south of Interstate 85 receiving less than one inch of rain.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 924531. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.