Archive for the ‘Photos’ Category

This damage was seen along HWY-21 as we entered Coosa County this afternoon just outside of Sylacauga.  The driver was uninjured and the tree was cleared rather quickly.  High winds also caused damage to many other areas south and east of 20/59.

Here are a few lightning shots from my video this evening here in Childersburg…

Last night….a large supercell developed along the Nebraska/Iowa border and completely raked West-Central and Northern Iowa with several large tornadoes and a swath of damage.  We have some interesting radar imagery we wanted to share to show how strong this beast was along with some video and photo documentation from fellow chasers of our media group, KDR Media.

Base Reflectivity shows the well pronounced hook and inflow region gong strait into Mapleton around 710 PM Central time last evening.  This is as the tornado was getting organized on the SW side of town.

You can see the tornado coming strait through the town of Mapleton here with the 0.5 degree inbound/outbound velocities beginning to converge and max out as the tornado plows through town.  This tornado did significant damage all across this area.  This parent supercell thunderstorm apparently produced several large, destructive tornadoes over the course of a 4 hour period across Iowa.  So far, we haven’t heard of any confirmed fatalities.

The video below comes from fellow KDR Media stringers Skip Talbot and Mike Boik.

Also….some damage video from KDR Media Stringer Mike Brady.

We will continue to update this story as it unfolds.  Another high end severe weather event is expected across the northern plains and upper midwest later today.  Stay tuned…

Here are a few shots from this morning of the mountains from my video camera.  The pixel quality isn’t the greatest, but I don’t have a HQ camera with me today. 

About time for a trip to the Ripley’s aquarium with the kiddos today.  Rainfall looks to be clearing out.  Alabama had a few more active storms especially in the west than I expected yesterday, but it was mainly a rain event.  Most of the severe stuff stayed in Mississippi where the greater instability was present.  Expect things to clear out and a warming trend to begin.  We expect 80’s by the end of the week into the weekend.  Have a great work week!

On Monday 2/28/11 we departed our central Alabama location at 3am en route to North Alabama for what looked to be a good chase day.  Early on we were cranking up the tunes while driving north bound and entertaining our guests on our StormScapeLIVE stream.  By 5am we were in the Decatur area and decided to exit off and have a good bite to eat with John Brown and Mike Wilhelm at the local Waffle House.  After grabbing a bite to eat we noticed that cells began going up right behind a gravity wave that was traversing north Mississippi and decided to fuel up and head NW. 

We progressed toward the Florence vicinity and noticed a distinct NE component to the storms.  Once we passed Waterloo, AL we observed lighting and some light rain but no real evidence of severe weather.  Thus, we backed off and went back into Florence and waited for later action.  After watching another storm weaken and go to our north from there we decided to head back to the interstate and make a play on later storms that were scheduled to form.  Just before noon storms began going to severe in Western Lauderdale and Colbert County.  We strategized and decided to go northward toward Athens and take the exit and drive in the direction of Rogersville just across the river and into Lauderdale county.  We noticed some evidence of rotation along Us-72 and took SR-207 northward to follow the developing storm.  Once we made it to Anderson the storm accelerated to our east and we were unable to really catch it.   After taking SR-99 eastward back towards Athens….we pulled over in the Cartwright community as we heard some kind of a roar with the cell departing to our ENE.  Inflow winds were picking up into the cell as it really ramped up in forward speed and entered Limestone County.  This storm went on to produce a tornado near the state line north of Hazel Green just east of HWY-231. 

After being bummed about missing a tornadic producing cell….we went back to I-65 to catch up with cells that were beginning to fire to the SW along the pre-frontal convergence.  After getting back on I-65 southward we noted that the cells were beginning to develop a little rotation even with the mainly veered low level winds at the surface.  We punched through a cell that had probably 5”/hour rainfall rates and got into position as a “kidney bean” shaped cell approached us at the rest area just south of Good Hope in Cullman County.  Once we got into position and at an elevated location we witnessed this at the beginning of the video.

This funnel was pretty consolidated for a few moments and actually extended probably 1/2 or 3/4 of the way to the ground at times.  Some folks on our stream thought they witnessed a touch down, but we can’t find any video evidence that would suggest that at all.  This was really the best cell that we caught on this day.

After intercepting the Cullman cell….we tracked south to the I-20/59 interchange and headed west.  This was a bad move on our part and put us too far north to get into the significant wind/hail that impacted parts of the Birmingham metro.  We got off at US-78 which mainly received heavy rain from the cell.

We sat there for a few moments in traffic gridlock and finally made it back to I-65 south bound heading toward the cells in Jefferson/Shelby.  We finally came out of the embedded rainfall while listening to all of the traffic on the 146.88 repeater out of Birmingham.  The reports of golf ball to tennis ball sized hail were pouring in and we figured that we may get lucky and get some rotation in the updraft base on the south side.  Once we got out of the core, we saw some rotation around the Shelby County airport.  We figured it was our last play of the day and decided to take the HWY-25 exit toward Columbiana/Wilsonville.  We saw a disorganized wall cloud a few times along the way with some higher base rotation, but the main show was further east with the Harpersville cell as a tornado warning was issued with damage being reported. 

We were unable to catch the cell, so we followed the rotational path of the cell that impacted Shelby/Talladega county and found the tornado damage located at the end of our video above.  The damage as all mainly minor, but looked like this on radar.

With veering winds throughout the event, you can’t ask for a much better day.  Instability was able to get storms fueled as the cap broke and the convergence kept them coming through the afternoon.  Had the winds stayed back…. a high end tornado outbreak would have unfolded.  Keep in mind that this is early spring and we still have a ways to go.

This is a view of the northern lights from our good friend Matt Grantham.  He is originally from Smiths Station, Alabama but currently resides in Corpus Christi, Texas and works for the National Weather Service office there.  Amazing shots from his new glass and camera body. 

We have mentioned over the last several weeks that there would be some big changes coming to the way we do things this year and we are now ready to announce some of those things.  First of all….we are working toward a new graphical image for our site and pages.  This includes the header banner, logo, mapping, and forecast graphics that you see posted here on Alabama Storm Trackers.com.  We are working on some apparel that will be coming out in the near future along with building our complete business model.  Here is the new Alabama Storm Trackers logo that we have decided on…

You will see this bad boy on most of our graphics along with our vehicle and any apparel that we distribute or put up for sale in the coming few months.  This is something that we are excited to have revamped and have original just for us.

Next….our streaming will be changing.  After a long run with Severe Studios we have decided to take our video needs in a different direction in terms of streaming.  We will still be providing a live stream for you guys on the road with GPS data access just like we always have.  We will just have a new provider.

ChaserTV.com will host our streaming this season for our web site and media clients.  You can still access our streaming page by clicking the “LIVE Chasecam and Chat” button at the top.  We have created a new chat that will be much better and moderated over the season during severe weather events while we are in the field.  We will be working to communicate with our followers while we are out unless it is just an extreme situation. We are excited about this change and look forward to new challenges in the coming days.

Now….to the big part of our announcement.  After long discussions and much planning the Alabama Storm Trackers have developed a partnership with a company/site that continues to grow and expand there client base over the entire continental United States…

The Alabama Storm Trackers are teaming up with Storm Scape LIVE Photography and meteorologist Michael Phelps.  This is a very exciting move as several things are going on behind the scenes that will make this a rock solid partnership and give us potential for more business opportunities in the future.  Mike has been an extreme meteorologist, videographer, and storm chaser since 1989.  His resume includes employment with The Weather Channel, KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas and being a consulting meteorologist for the PGA tour.  Mike is well known in the meteorology field and the chase community and brings a lot to the table.  We only believe this venture will allow us to grow as a chase team and business.  Expect many more big announcements in the future on upcoming events from us.

We will be doing a test with our new streaming service and our Storm Scape LIVE page located HERE!  Be sure to check it out as we plan to start streaming around 4:45 – 5:00 PM tomorrow Central time.  Have a great weekend……and stay tuned!

New Years Eve 2010 will go down as one of the most active weather days on New Year’s Eve ever.  As of 1:30AM on 1/2/2011….7 Deaths have been reported from the tornado event.  6 EF-3’s and 4 EF-2’s have been surveyed across the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi as well….some of which were long track.  We will get into the analysis of why the event was so much more devastating than forecast along with some shots of the Jackson, MS tornado from the VIPIR/FasTRAC radar systems from Baron Services.

First….I will start with a few images from the morning of the 31st.  The 12z upper air analysis charts revealed a pretty dangerous weather scenario that was about to take shape.

Looking at the above 500mb chart….you can see a very powerful negative tilt shortwave rotating around the upper low across portions of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas with the apex of the troughing around Tulsa, OK at 7am CST.   Also indicated is a very fast mid level flow with 50-80 knots across most of OK/KS out of the southwest.  Consistent cooling aloft aided in steepening 500-700mb lapse rates rapidly.  The column was also rather dry at H5.

The 250mb chart for the upper atmosphere indicated that massive divergence was beginning to occur across AR/MO in the exit region of a 110+kt upper level jet max plowed into the region.  This would again be another factor in aiding updraft development with a “vacuum” effect aloft for the storm to feed off of….or enhancing the lift.

And we can’t leave out the low level flow at 925mb….or about 3000ft.  This image indicates a low pressure area just off the surface over portions of NE KS with a major temperature gradient developing.  Winds ahead of this low were backed to the S-SSE at the low levels helping create a very favorable shear profile in the lowest 2km of the atmosphere for tornadoes.  The 14C temperatures also helped in boosting CAPE values to levels sufficient to keep thunderstorm updrafts pumping….which allowed several of these tornadoes to become large, destructive, and deadly.

Here is a vertical profile from the morning of 12/31 from the Springfield, MO balloon launch…

This sounding profile shows a small inversion or cap around 800mb.  However, the inversion is very weak and was broken by forced convection, slight cooling/moistening aloft that brought the profile more toward the wet bulb.  Once the storms got into the area….the shear was more than adequate for significant tornadoes given the 550+ m2/s2 shear values in the 0-1km and 0-3km layers.  You will notice that the CAPE is only 423j/kg on this sounding…..but that slight moistening of the column boosted those CAPE values shortly after this sounding.  I’m sure the 75j/kg 3km or low level CAPE was more like 200 j/kg once the cap eroded.  Still, small difference can cause big changes.  The main tornadic activity took place just to the east and north of this sounding location where the atmosphere was a little more moist. 

Thus, given the conditions stated above….these supercells developed in Eastern Oklahoma and traversed through NW Arkansas into Missouri.  This radar capture if of the tornado that hit the Cincinnati, Arkansas community killing 3 as it ripped through town.  This tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-3.  These same storms continued and cycled through portions of Missouri producing the killer tornadoes in the Springfield county warning area. 

This is an image captured as the supercell produced a tornado at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.  You can see the vortex on the ground doing pretty much total devastation.  Also noted is the horizontal low level vortex just off the ground.  This tells me just how dynamical the system was for this area.  Very impressive….especially for December.

Later in the afternoon we were keying in on the deep south as a dryer than forecast mid levels were across the region along with a more loaded-gun type sounding.  The inversion was quite a bit deeper across the south with isolated showers and convection taking shape and being beaten down by the cap.  However, by about 4-5pm it was game time for the Jackson, MS metro area.  Supercells were developing south and west of town and were developing rapid rotation quickly as the low level jet was beginning to intensify over the region.

The image above in FasTRAC (Baron Services Product) you can see several rotations embedded within the QLCS (quasi-liner convective system) to the west, but one thing sticks out like a sore thumb.  The isolated cell ahead of the line that has a hook structure.  This notch southwest of Crystal Springs was feeding off of an environment that was pretty clear to it’s southeast with the low level, moist flow coming from that direction.  As the storm moved northeastward we watched it gain strength with higher output of lightning and better low level wind values.  As it approached Jackson we began noticing maxing wind velocities.

Reports were coming in that the tornado had touched down just west of I-55 with damage being reported just west of Terry, MS.  The tornado then tracked northeast where it continued it’s path toward the Jackson metro.

The tornado is wrapped up with the higher dbZ values (some purples) wrapping in just before reaching I-55.  This is an indication that either debris is being thrown by the tornado or either it’s becoming rain wrapped.  Given the deep moisture field and radar presentation, I’m pretty sure it was a bit of both. 

This image illustrates the strong inflow to the tornado.  The reds embedded within that green area indicates range folding as the winds were extremely strong and the radar didn’t properly alias the data correctly resulting in no or bad data.  I’m sure those were 80+ mph winds streaming into the tornado just off the surface.

This shot shows the tornado approaching the I-020 vicinity between Jackson and Brandon with many storm chasers all around the cell.  At this point, debris was being reported on I-55 with a 1/2 mile wide damage path and the National Weather Service personnel in Brandon were taking shelter as the tornado crossed just to there west.  This tornado was mighty impressive with EF-2 strength winds and a 26 mile long path.  The downtown area of Jackson dodged a major bullet given that this was during a rush hour period that most folks were off for the holiday.  No one has been reported to be killed from this tornado. This tornado also ran across the runway at the Jackson International Airport.  This was the beginning of the Mississippi tornadic evening.

Since the NWS office took a hit during the hour they normally launch there weather balloon sounding….the 00z balloon was never released.  Jackson did a planned sounding at 04z to see what the atmosphere looked like in the wake of their first tornadic storm. 

The sounding revealed an uncapped environment along with nearly 1700 j/kg surface CAPE still in place.  One of the reasons that you check the sounding data when it becomes available is the models are not always correct.  At this same time….the SPC mesoanalysis page (RUC derived) indicated less than 500j/kg CAPE in this area with building convective inhibition (CINH).  One would think that the weather would have calmed down if that were the case…..wrong.

As a second upper level perturbation and jet max moved into the region….a surface low developed on the LA/MS border and moved northeastward along the surface frontal axis.  More tornadoes in turn developed across Central/East Mississippi during the overnight in Attalla, Holmes, Kemper, Noxubee counties.  More areas are being investigated for ratings as wind or tornado damage.

We will update with more content as needed or if more comes available.

A few days before Christmas we were pegging on a potential Christmas winter storm that could plague parts of the southland with there first white Christmas ever.  This all turned to fruition during the early morning hours of the 25th and gave most of us what we had all been waiting for.  To the setup…

The night before the short range models started coming in more aggressive with precipitation.  These models started showing accumulations throughout the southeast region including north and central Alabama.  Here is a model image of the 00z BAMS model that is derived from Baron Services in Huntsville, Alabama.  Baron Services provides broadcast media with in house computer graphics for radar and weather modeling.

This model began showing the 2” criteria snowfall that is border line for a winter storm warning in this part of the country.  So, now that things began locking in on a greater snowfall potential we were watching this system develop from our homes.

The morning of Christmas Eve, December 24th, our system was developing in western Texas and to the north across the Dakotas.  We watched from our in-house system as the upper air system strengthened and moved across Texas as snowfall continued to move southward from Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Kentucky.

The surface low began to crank in far south Texas and precipitation was much more expansive that forecast by the short term models over portions of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  This led many forecasters to believe that even with a more aggressive approach that the models may be coming in a bit too weak with the system.  The European, the most aggressive model of them all, was beginning to look like a good solution to place your bets on.  By the late evening hours and early morning hours on Christmas…..winter weather advisories/warnings began to fly.

It is nearly unheard of to have winter weather advisories down to Dothan, Alabama any time of the year much less Christmas.  However, this was a good call as snowfall began transitioning southward the morning of the 25th as our surface low transitioned along the coast with new upper level energy moving in to bring the colder air aloft with it.  Local radars began showing the transition zone as a “bright banding” feature.

Above is the transition zone around 10 am across portions of Jefferson, Shelby, and Talladega County Alabama on the leading edge of the precipitation.  This bright banding was due to some evaporation of the heavy precip. aloft.  It was reaching the surface in the form of sleet and snow as the column above cooled to isothermal.  In other words…..the heavy precipitation brought the colder air down with it to the surface allowing the mixture or changeover to all snow.  Basically….here was the end result for most areas.

Snowfall totals varied across many locations with Central Alabama receiving 1-2” in most cases with heavier totals of 4”+ in the Huntsville area.  Portions of Jackson County took 6” with power flickers being reported before the snow ended.  Black ice also became a problem when all was said and done as the cold air and windy conditions settled in.  Another winter weather advisory was required on 12/26 due to a large upper level low dropping in and bringing in colder air aloft allowing the low to wring out all over the moisture available in the atmosphere.

As the low moved northeast…..the BAMS models was pinpointing a potential major blizzard for the northeast.  Parts of NJ, NY, MA, etc. expected to get 2’ of snow!  Here is the BAMS model assessment of the situation from 00z 12/26.

Now…..here are the results from Vimeo user Michael Black of New Jersey.  These are images shot from a DSLR in a 5 minutes sequence during the blizzard.  Amazing 20” snowfall for these folks.

This is likely something that many of us in the south may never see again in our lifetime.  This is the first recorded white Christmas for parts of the Birmingham CWA since records have been kept.

A lot of dense fog in the area tonight.  I took these photos as I was leaving work in Sylacauga this evening.  Be careful if you must be on the roads tonight.  Visibility is limited!