Tornado Watch Soon?

Our solid line of intense thunderstorms now extends from near Jackson TN to just east of Holly Springs MS to Grenada to Greenwood to Yazoo City in Mississippi.

It is moving east at 30 mph. At this rate of speed, it will reach western Alabama’s Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin and marion Counties around 9:15-9:30. It should reach Lamar and Pickens Counties before 10 p.m.

Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings are nearly solid along the line from southwestern Tennessee to near I-20 in Mississippi. One tornado warning is in effect north of Grenada MS and another east of Holly Springs. In Tennessee, another is in effect near and north of Jackson. Winds just gusted to 55 knots at Jackson TN (64 mph).

In Tennessee, 65 mph winds were reported earlier in Germantown and one inch hail was reported in Collierville. A tornado was reported with some damage at Senatobia, MS.

You can see additional showers have formed ahead of the main line. Any of these that manage to become thunderstorms concern us since they have the potential to be discrete cells ahead of the main squall. Those tend to have more potential to produce tornadoes.

Ahead of the line, the airmass is moderately unstable, and the wind fields are intense. In these winter season events, it doesn’t take much instability when you have these strong wind fields, so we continue a severe weather risk across much of Alabama west of a line from Wdowee to Montgomery to Brewton. There is an enhanced risk for areas west of a line Vernon to Haleyville to Athens.

The NWS BMX sent up a scheduled balloon at 6 p.m. The details will follow in another post.

Look for a tornado watch to be issued soon for portions of West Central and Northwest Alabama.

Category: Alabama's Weather, Severe Weather