Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Tuesday's and today's severe weather

updated Wed. AM - Birmingham, AL radar
bright red hook is a radar-indicated tornado...

same perspective as the radar grab above, but this is an image portraying 'storm relative velocity'...green/red show winds moving in the opposite direction, and where the hook is you see a 'brightened' effect...and you can safely assume it's causing problems on the ground below

updated Wed. AM - Birmingham, AL
pink: tornado warnings
red: thunderstorm warnings


Tuesday's Tally:
Over 50 tornado reports.

Over 250 damage reports.
Over 20 deaths.

It's been the perfect breeding ground for severe weather with the record-setting warmth in the south and a cold winter airmass plowing southward from Canada. We set a record high in Greensboro yesterday at 74 degrees, and will surely do so again today as the record is only 66 degrees.

The main concern for we Tarheels is what are the chances we'll have severe weather in North Carolina? Certainly TN is loaded with tornado warnings and watches galore (as well as other states), and it all should get here later this afternoon. Our risk appears to be slight, and one model we use here at the station has nothing falling in eastern North Carolina.

I've put some maps in from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK that I nabbed around 1:30 am, along with some radar grabs from KY and TN, if you like to look at those things. Remember to click on the picture to enlarge it for easier viewing of the data.

Tuesday's preliminary data chart


Preliminary 3-hour data shortly after midnight...the tornadoes continued on...

Jackson, KY radar with tornado warnings in pink and severe thunderstorm warnings in red outlines...


Nashville, TN radar

The big problem with night tornadoes is, of course, people are asleep and you can't see it coming. Many reports yet to come in, and plenty more severe storms will rear their heads. KY and TN were getting hit hard overnight, and it looks like more of the severe activity will translate a little farther north toward the upper Ohio River Valley.

I'll update with more pertinent information as I get my paws on it...for now I'm putting interesting radar scans in at the top as I find them.

No comments: