Tornado Watch Coming Soon To Parts Of Alabama

It probably won’t be too much longer before the Storm Prediction Center, along with NWS Birmingham and NWS Huntsville, issue a Tornado Watch for portions of the area. Here is the text from the latest Mesoscale Discussion from the Storm Prediction Center:

Probability of Watch Issuance…95 percent

SUMMARY…
The severe weather threat currently over Mississippi will shift east into Alabama later this afternoon. A downstream tornado watch will be needed soon.

DISCUSSION…
A MCS moved across northern Louisiana this morning and produced numerous TDS signatures. This same cluster of storms has produced a TDS more recently (~1830Z) in west-central Mississippi. This same line of storms is expected to move east-northeastward into northern Alabama later this afternoon and into the evening. The airmass across northern Alabama has destabilized across the last several hours and continued moistening/warming is expected as the warm front lifts north. Therefore, this ongoing MCS is expected to maintain its current intensity and likely strengthen further as it moves into Alabama.

A 997mb meso-low has formed in southeast AR/western MS. This has acted to locally enhance the backing of surface winds ahead of these storms. This has led to very large 0-1 SRH values near 700 m2/s2 per GWX VWP. Damaging winds and QLCS tornadoes will continue to be a threat with this MCS as storms move eastward. However, there is a conditional threat for surface-based supercells to develop south of this activity in the warm sector. If this occurs, a significant, threat would become more likely.

A tornado watch will be needed soon east of the current watch in Mississippi.

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