Outbreak of tornadoes and severe storms slams South again
Wrath of Nature can be seen often in the shape of natural calamity and the unluckier ones face it .The South is in the midst of an outbreak of severe weather, including widespread damaging winds, tornadoes, hail and torrential rainfall.Multiple waves of severe thunderstorms are underway or anticipated from Mississippi to the South Carolina coast as a strong storm system rolls across the area. Flash flooding is accompanying violent storms in some areas.Earlier , tornado watches stretched from southern Mississippi and Alabama through the Florida Panhandle into southwest Georgia, and were valid into early next morning.Numerous tornado warnings were also active, following a flurry earlier in the evening.Notably, at 7:23 p.m. central time, the Weather Service warned of “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” just 30 miles south-southwest of the 2.25-mile-wide tornado that struck southern Mississippi one week ago. At 7:44 p.m., the twister was heading east at 55 mph on a path to pass close to the city of Purvis around 7:50 p.m., about 15 miles south-southwest of Hattiesburg. The Weather Service warned “this is a particularly dangerous situation” extending the tornado warning through 8:15 p.m for areas just east of Purvis. Based on doppler radar, the tornado then passed close to the southeast part of Hattiesburg, very near its municipal airport.The Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center wrote in a statement that this tornado was likely at least an EF3 on its 0 to 5 scale for twister intensity, with winds of at least 136 mph.
The tornado warning was extended again through 9 p.m. central time, with the storm expected to pass between the towns of Richton and Beaumont in southeast Mississippi, and then again through 9:15 p.m. mainly over rural areas. Damage was reported from the twister in Marion and Lamar counties. Tornado warnings were issued for the same storm as it traveled into southern Alabama.Many of the same areas affected by tornado activity in southern Mississippi and southern Alabama were also under flash flood warnings at times, with high water rescues reported in Hattiesburg, Miss.Tornado warnings continued to be issued for storms in southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and southwest Georgia late into last night, including some for twisters which had been confirmed by either radar or storm spotters.Around 11:50 p.m. central time, radar showed widespread heavy storms with torrential rain from southern Alabama to central Georgia, where multiple flash flood warnings were in effect.Earlier , storms struck the Dallas-Ft. Worth with large hail while storms west of Galveston and Houston also produced large hail as well a tornado.
From Texas to South Carolina, the National Weather Service logged more than 150 reports of severe weather, including 86 reports of damaging winds.The in-progress outbreak comes exactly a week after more than 130 tornadoes tore up much of the South and Southeast amid a deadly severe weather event. With a preliminary tally of 69 deaths, 2020 is the nation’s deadliest year for tornadoes since 2012 — and it’s only mid-April.The repeated threat of dangerous storms underscores the challenge of living in storm-prone areas during the springtime, particularly at the same time as the coronavirus pandemic. It also demonstrates the importance of having a severe weather plan in place to know what to do when the time comes.“I think Alabamians are tired of dealing with COVID-19, and after last day, tired of dealing with severe weather,” James Spann, the chief meteorologist for the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, wrote in a Facebook post outlining upcoming severe weather threat. “We don’t do this to scare anyone, or make them more anxious, but at the same time we have to let you know there is a risk of severe thunderstorms. … We will get through the day together.”Spann and other meteorologists have emphasized the importance of having a way to be notified of any warnings issued. A battery-backup NOAA weather radio is ideal while you ensure wireless emergency alerts are activated on your phone and the “do not disturb” mode is disabled. Hazard breakdownAreas at risk: A level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” stretches across the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center’s latest severe weather map.
That’s where meteorologists anticipate a “regional outbreak of tornadoes and damaging wind,” the red zone encompassing a swath of southern Mississippi, Alabama and western/central Georgia.Included within the moderate-risk area are the cities of Jackson, Miss., Columbus, Ga. and Montgomery, Ala. In addition, the same parts of rural southeastern Mississippi that bore witness to an extreme 2.25-mile-wide EF4 tornado last week are again in today’s highest tier of risk.Surrounding the moderate-risk zone is a blanket of level 3 “enhanced” risk for cities such as Mobile, Ala., Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga.A level 2 “slight risk” zone stretches from northwest Louisiana to Birmingham to Atlanta, because confidence in higher-end storms is less there. That’s because those areas may lie near where the warm front stalls, preventing them from fully breaking into the explosive air mass that lurks to the south.Threats: While damaging winds are likely to be the most widespread hazard, the threat of tornadoes also will be noteworthy.A hail threat also will accompany clusters of storms, especially in Mississippi.A few instances of hail greater than two inches in diameter can be expected there. Last evening storms are expected to merge into a line that will produce widespread damaging wind gusts, in some locales topping 70 mph. Southern Alabama and Georgia are particularly vulnerable to that line of storms, which could affect Columbus — including Fort Benning and Macon in Georgia and Dothan and Montgomery in Alabama. Erratic tornadoes may form along the leading edge of any line of storms.That line will probably make it to the Atlantic coastline late in the overnight into very early next morning bringing at least widely scattered damaging wind gusts to the Midlands and beaches of South Carolina, also hit hard by storms last week.So far this severe season, tornadoes have struck multiple airports, damaging and destroying parked aircraft. Given the aviation industry’s unprecedented downturn related to the pandemic, airlines are currently storing hundreds of expensive jets on tarmacs around the country. Some of these airports may be in harms’ way , including Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., as well as Atlanta.Flooding concernsThis event also features a substantial risk of flash flooding across central Mississippi and especially Alabama and western Georgia. Up to 2.5 inches of rain was expected to fall by the late morning across many of these areas; that could saturate soils and prime the ground for flash flooding if thunderstorms “train” and pass over the same areas during the afternoon and evening. A few areas may wind up with six inches or more of rainfall. The storms stem from a pocket of spinning upper-level cold that was digging south off the California coast as late as Saturday morning. It then swung across the Four Corners region toward the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, where it started the day early .
Ahead of this axis of “vorticity,” or spinning air, an influx of Gulf of Mexico air will overspread much of the South.That approaching area of spin will foster rising motion ahead of it, kindling the development of strong to severe thunderstorms. Meanwhile, a surface stationary front draped essentially parallel and just to the north of Interstate 20 between East Texas and South Carolina will serve as a focal mechanism for storms. To the north, a chillier air mass will lend itself to nonsevere storms and heavy rain, while severe weather will flourish in the milder air to the south.That upper-level pocket of cold and spin is cradled in a dip of the jet stream; ahead of it, a zone of fast-moving air will surge northward. That will help boost the amount of “wind shear” present, or a change in wind speed/direction with height. That increases the chance of rotating storms.Another round of storminess is possible 3-4 days later from today from the Southern Plains into the Southeast, though details remain uncertain at this time.
Wrath of Nature can be seen often in the shape of natural calamity and the unluckier ones face it .The South is in the midst of an outbreak of severe weather, including widespread damaging winds, tornadoes, hail and torrential rainfall.Multiple waves of severe thunderstorms are underway or anticipated from Mississippi to the South Carolina coast as a strong storm system rolls across the area. Flash flooding is accompanying violent storms in some areas.Earlier , tornado watches stretched from southern Mississippi and Alabama through the Florida Panhandle into southwest Georgia, and were valid into early next morning.Numerous tornado warnings were also active, following a flurry earlier in the evening.Notably, at 7:23 p.m. central time, the Weather Service warned of “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” just 30 miles south-southwest of the 2.25-mile-wide tornado that struck southern Mississippi one week ago. At 7:44 p.m., the twister was heading east at 55 mph on a path to pass close to the city of Purvis around 7:50 p.m., about 15 miles south-southwest of Hattiesburg. The Weather Service warned “this is a particularly dangerous situation” extending the tornado warning through 8:15 p.m for areas just east of Purvis. Based on doppler radar, the tornado then passed close to the southeast part of Hattiesburg, very near its municipal airport.The Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center wrote in a statement that this tornado was likely at least an EF3 on its 0 to 5 scale for twister intensity, with winds of at least 136 mph.
The tornado warning was extended again through 9 p.m. central time, with the storm expected to pass between the towns of Richton and Beaumont in southeast Mississippi, and then again through 9:15 p.m. mainly over rural areas. Damage was reported from the twister in Marion and Lamar counties. Tornado warnings were issued for the same storm as it traveled into southern Alabama.Many of the same areas affected by tornado activity in southern Mississippi and southern Alabama were also under flash flood warnings at times, with high water rescues reported in Hattiesburg, Miss.Tornado warnings continued to be issued for storms in southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, and southwest Georgia late into last night, including some for twisters which had been confirmed by either radar or storm spotters.Around 11:50 p.m. central time, radar showed widespread heavy storms with torrential rain from southern Alabama to central Georgia, where multiple flash flood warnings were in effect.Earlier , storms struck the Dallas-Ft. Worth with large hail while storms west of Galveston and Houston also produced large hail as well a tornado.
From Texas to South Carolina, the National Weather Service logged more than 150 reports of severe weather, including 86 reports of damaging winds.The in-progress outbreak comes exactly a week after more than 130 tornadoes tore up much of the South and Southeast amid a deadly severe weather event. With a preliminary tally of 69 deaths, 2020 is the nation’s deadliest year for tornadoes since 2012 — and it’s only mid-April.The repeated threat of dangerous storms underscores the challenge of living in storm-prone areas during the springtime, particularly at the same time as the coronavirus pandemic. It also demonstrates the importance of having a severe weather plan in place to know what to do when the time comes.“I think Alabamians are tired of dealing with COVID-19, and after last day, tired of dealing with severe weather,” James Spann, the chief meteorologist for the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, wrote in a Facebook post outlining upcoming severe weather threat. “We don’t do this to scare anyone, or make them more anxious, but at the same time we have to let you know there is a risk of severe thunderstorms. … We will get through the day together.”Spann and other meteorologists have emphasized the importance of having a way to be notified of any warnings issued. A battery-backup NOAA weather radio is ideal while you ensure wireless emergency alerts are activated on your phone and the “do not disturb” mode is disabled. Hazard breakdownAreas at risk: A level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” stretches across the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center’s latest severe weather map.
That’s where meteorologists anticipate a “regional outbreak of tornadoes and damaging wind,” the red zone encompassing a swath of southern Mississippi, Alabama and western/central Georgia.Included within the moderate-risk area are the cities of Jackson, Miss., Columbus, Ga. and Montgomery, Ala. In addition, the same parts of rural southeastern Mississippi that bore witness to an extreme 2.25-mile-wide EF4 tornado last week are again in today’s highest tier of risk.Surrounding the moderate-risk zone is a blanket of level 3 “enhanced” risk for cities such as Mobile, Ala., Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga.A level 2 “slight risk” zone stretches from northwest Louisiana to Birmingham to Atlanta, because confidence in higher-end storms is less there. That’s because those areas may lie near where the warm front stalls, preventing them from fully breaking into the explosive air mass that lurks to the south.Threats: While damaging winds are likely to be the most widespread hazard, the threat of tornadoes also will be noteworthy.A hail threat also will accompany clusters of storms, especially in Mississippi.A few instances of hail greater than two inches in diameter can be expected there. Last evening storms are expected to merge into a line that will produce widespread damaging wind gusts, in some locales topping 70 mph. Southern Alabama and Georgia are particularly vulnerable to that line of storms, which could affect Columbus — including Fort Benning and Macon in Georgia and Dothan and Montgomery in Alabama. Erratic tornadoes may form along the leading edge of any line of storms.That line will probably make it to the Atlantic coastline late in the overnight into very early next morning bringing at least widely scattered damaging wind gusts to the Midlands and beaches of South Carolina, also hit hard by storms last week.So far this severe season, tornadoes have struck multiple airports, damaging and destroying parked aircraft. Given the aviation industry’s unprecedented downturn related to the pandemic, airlines are currently storing hundreds of expensive jets on tarmacs around the country. Some of these airports may be in harms’ way , including Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., as well as Atlanta.Flooding concernsThis event also features a substantial risk of flash flooding across central Mississippi and especially Alabama and western Georgia. Up to 2.5 inches of rain was expected to fall by the late morning across many of these areas; that could saturate soils and prime the ground for flash flooding if thunderstorms “train” and pass over the same areas during the afternoon and evening. A few areas may wind up with six inches or more of rainfall. The storms stem from a pocket of spinning upper-level cold that was digging south off the California coast as late as Saturday morning. It then swung across the Four Corners region toward the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, where it started the day early .
Ahead of this axis of “vorticity,” or spinning air, an influx of Gulf of Mexico air will overspread much of the South.That approaching area of spin will foster rising motion ahead of it, kindling the development of strong to severe thunderstorms. Meanwhile, a surface stationary front draped essentially parallel and just to the north of Interstate 20 between East Texas and South Carolina will serve as a focal mechanism for storms. To the north, a chillier air mass will lend itself to nonsevere storms and heavy rain, while severe weather will flourish in the milder air to the south.That upper-level pocket of cold and spin is cradled in a dip of the jet stream; ahead of it, a zone of fast-moving air will surge northward. That will help boost the amount of “wind shear” present, or a change in wind speed/direction with height. That increases the chance of rotating storms.Another round of storminess is possible 3-4 days later from today from the Southern Plains into the Southeast, though details remain uncertain at this time.
Good job sir. You are a great inspiration for people like me.
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