Major Severe Weather Threat Ahead

An all new edition of the ABC 33/40 Weather Xtreme video is available in the player below. You can subscribe to the Weather Xtreme video on iTunes by clicking here.

Let’s get down to the details of the next 36 hours and try to answer everyone’s questions…

TIMING: We believe the primary window for severe weather in Alabama will be from 6:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. However, some storms could linger over far East Alabama until 6:00 p.m. And, a few storms could enter West Alabama as early as 3:00 a.m.

WHERE: All of Alabama will have a risk of severe weather; the greatest tornado potential could be over the southern two-thirds of the state, but isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out across the Tennessee Valley of extreme North Alabama.

WHAT TO EXPECT: All modes of severe weather are possible, including damaging wind, large hail, and a few tornadoes. A couple of damaging, long track tornadoes are possible considering the environmental conditions.

FLOODING: Another two to three inches of rain is possible, so flash flooding is possible, followed by river flooding as all that water has to go somewhere.

HOW BAD? Assuming an MCS does not move along the Gulf Coast and shut down our moisture feed, we expect instability values to rise as high as 2,500 j/kg, with strong turning in projected hodographs and excellent low level helicity values. As the dynamics of the surface low catch up to the unstable air mass across Alabama, the 
chance for tornadoes increases within highly organized, rotating storms.  There is a chance of isolated large tornadoes (greater than EF2 strength) with some of the more intense storms (that wording was from the NWS on a late morning briefing)

PREPARE: Take a few minutes and review your family severe weather plan, and be sure your NOAA Weather Radio receiver is working and programmed properly for your county. And, if you live in a flood prone area, be ready to move to higher ground in the event flash flood warnings are needed.

SUNDAY/MONDAY: Cooler and drier air takes over on these days; a little scattered light frost is possible at daybreak Monday across the colder valleys of North and Central Alabama.

NEXT WEEK: A few showers are possible on Tuesday, but it looks like our next chance of severe weather will come late Thursday or Thursday night of next week. We will fine tune that forecast in coming days.

WEATHER BRAINS: Don’t forget you can listen to our weekly 30 minute netcast anytime on the web, or on iTunes. This is the show all about weather featuring many familiar voices, including our meteorologists here at ABC 33/40. You can even listen here on the blog; look for the player on the top left.

TWITTER: Don’t forget, you can follow our news and weather updates from ABC 33/40 on Twitter here. And, my personal Twitter feed is here if you want to keep up with my adventures in life. Twitter is a short messaging service you can receive via the web, cell phone, or IM.

SPECIAL ABC 33/40 NOAA WEATHER RADIO OFFER: You can purchase the WR-100 Midland NOAA Weather Radio, the best selling model in the nation, at any Publix or Handy TV location in this part of Alabama for only $29.95. These receivers have the new digital technology that allows you to choose the counties for which the alarm sounds. Every Alabama home and business needs one!

Needless to say… we will be around through the event with frequent updates, so hang around the blog. Our live radar stream is now available in the upper left corner of the blog, and we will also use that stream for long form coverage in the event of tornado warnings…

Category: Uncategorized