Archive for June 18th, 2010

Here is an image of the severe storm which impacted northern and central Shelby County around 8:30pm this evening.  This image shows the downward acceleration of the wind momentum and  the diverging signature of the winds once they reach the surface.  In the latter images you can see the stronger wind field expand toward Alabaster as it begins to move southeastward as a dominant outflow.

UPDATE:  Getting damage reports in from this same area.  Shingles off roofs, power lines down, and structure fires just NW of Alabaster near the Amberly Woods area.  This is all in association with the storm shown above.

This evening a massive bow echo has tore through portions of Iowa, Illinois and is now moving across portions of Michigan and Indiana.  90 mph winds were just reported near La Porte, IN with this convective system and numerous reports of wind damage are coming in.  Trees and power lines have been reported down across the Chicagoland area along with some reports of structural damage.  No real reports of injuries have occurred as of now, but there is a moderate risk in place from the Storm Prediction Center and an associated risk of more supercells with damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes further west.  Speaking of that…

Tornado warnings are now being issued south of the Des Moines metro area this afternoon for rotating thunderstorms that have and are continuing to develop along an outflow boundary in Central and Southern Iowa.  These storms will have the potential to spawn tornadoes throughout the evening hours and into the overnight given the very unstable boundary layer in place.  Some of these tornadoes could be strong, but they shouldn’t be quite as strong as yesterday.  As we all know, however, any tornado poses a threat to life and property.  Stay tuned to later updates….

We have had a very busy 24 hours here in the Alabama Storm Trackers camp with the birth of my baby boy Graham yesterday morning.  He was born at 11:23am and weighed 8lbs. 1oz.  He was also 20" long and was born by c-section.  Mom and baby are doing fine, but things may be a bit slow around here for a bit while we transition toward home on Fathers Day.  Can’t think of a better gift.  Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes during this time of great joy for our family.

-Brett