Threat for Severe Weather Continues for North and Central Alabama

A line of intense thunderstorms continues to push eastward tonight across Central and Northeast Mississippi, Northwest Alabama and southern Tennessee early this morning.

A new tornado warning was just issued for parts of Franklin, Colbert and Lawrence County for a strong indication of rotation over Franklin County. A second tornado warning continues for parts of Colbert and Lauderdale Counties due to rotation near Tuscumbia.

In Mississippi, a dangerous storm between Ackerman and Eupora has prompted a tornado warning. This storm could affect Lamar, Marion or northern Fayette Counties within the next two hours.

There is also a tornado watch for parts of North and North Central Alabama until 6 a.m. CST.

The line of storms will track into West Alabama during the overnight hours. There is a good chance of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes into West Central Alabama for areas northwest of I-59.

Lightning output from the storms has dropped a bit over the past hour, which is good news, but the instability values ahead of the line have increased over the past two hours. CAPE values have increased to 1,000 to 1,500 joules/kg and I am concerned that there might be a higher chance of damaging winds as the storms enter the I-59 Corridor. There is a significant amount of a special kind of CAPE that we know as Downdraft CAPE, that is maximized along the I-59 Corridor,

So please pay attention to these storms when they arrive in your area later tonight. They should be approaching Jasper around 3:30 a.m., Tuscaloosa a little after 4 a.m. and Birmingham and Gadsden around 5 a.m. They should weaken as they exit the I-59 Corridor though.

We will have continuous updates throughout the night.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather