Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

After looking at everything this morning….I believe that we are still in decent shape with maybe a few changes needed on snow totals and ice accumulations later on this afternoon once we get a full suite and days worth of data.  Current indications are that we may need to adjust our icing totals upward south of the I-20 corridor.  We will get into that later.

We are planning to build a large page with our team members live video cameras from different locations around the state.  If you are interested in possibly helping us out and would like for your camera possibly shown on a local news affiliate during the storm….send me a message to bamastormchaser@gmail.com and we will get you setup and ready to stream the ice and/or snow event at your location.  This will in the process help us with real time views to correlate radar data with what is actually happening.

Our next update will come later in the evening as we prepare our next call on the winter weather situation across the deep south.  Have a great Saturday!

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.

Alot of issues are ongoing and have already occurred with icing across the area from Troy on to the north.  The Freezing Rain Advisory has been allowed to expire west of I-65, but it’s still in effect until 3PM east of 65.  A total of 3 deaths have been reported thus far with many serious injuries.  Parts of I-59 have been closed as well.  Here is a look at surface temperatures and what to expect for the rest of the afternoon.

Icing potential should end for all areas including the far northeast counties by 5PM.  Warmer air is moving in from the SW and Jackson, MS is hovering near 60°!!  We should warm up even into the overnight hours and reach a temp near 60° tomorrow in Central Alabama.

Here is some video of the sleet/freezing rain from Childersburg.  YouTube didn’t convert very well, but you can see the traffic continuing with the icing ongoing as well as the ice bouncing off of vehicles and accumulating on stepping stones. 

Stay safe during the rest of your Wednesday afternoon.  Conditions will improve this evening.

This is video from our hail storm that smacked us on Cooridor-X in Walker County near the Jefferson County line.

Saturday was a busy day for the Alabama Storm Trackers as we made our way across Mississippi for tornadic storms that fired early in the day…..but our goal was to journey to parts of Central Arkansas where a major tornado outbreak was expected to unfold in the afternoon.

We witnessed several wall clouds and strong rotation near the Oxford, Mississippi area with a storm that eventually went on to produce numerous tornadoes across northeast Mississippi.  Later in the day….we witnessed more of the same near the Pine Bluff and DeWitt, Arkansas areas.  We were hit by a weak ground circulation just northeast of Pine Bluff, AR with several chasers behind us as a funnel crossed overhead.  This storm became ragged and eventually fell apart.  We believe that lack of mid level dry air and weaker low level shear values than from the day before may have been the saving grave for that part of the world. 

We were followed by a camera crew from KARK out of Little Rock and interviewed numerous times by The Weather Channel LIVE while on these tornadic storms.  We relied on the spotter network to provide ground truth and up to the minute information to the National Weather Service during this time period. 

Into the overnight hours….we crossed the Mississippi River at Helena, AR and progressed northward toward Tunica as tornadic storms roared into the Memphis metro area.  Hearing some reports of a tornado, but no damage….we decided to progress eastward and begin our journey home toward Birmingham on US Highway 78.  As we moved toward Tupelo we saw a supercell thunderstorm begin to really get it’s act together as it crossed the highway behind us and moved northeast into Tippah and Benton Counties.  This storm dropped an EF-3 tornado with estimated winds of 140 mph near the Ashland Mississippi area.  Two people died in a manufactured home during this storm.  We knew looking at the radar signature that it was picking up debris.  Another storm produced damage in the Corinth, Mississippi area from an apparent tornado.

This was a high risk bust, but still a lot of lives were lost.  The tornadoes not only made the headlines, but the historic flooding that is still ongoing in Central Tennessee.  Nashville at this hour is still under quite a bit of water and it will likely change the city forever.  Flooding kills just like tornadoes….and many more actually.  Please keep in mind…turn around…don’t drown. 

It was great to meet several chasers on this expedition including Randy “Outlaw” Hicks just south of Little Rock.  We have several photos and video clips that we will be uploading over the coming couple of days as we get some down time.  I hope everyone enjoys a more sunny week….instead of a tornado filled one. 

Those are just some of the awesome storms we were able to intercept today! Golfball hail video and the video of the storm that produced the Alabaster tornado coming tomorrow evening! Have a great evening.

Here is video shot from the Alabama Storm Trackers this afternoon by David Neal at the intersection of North Blvd. and I-65 in Montgomery. We witnessed this storm produce rapid rotation as the storm occluded and a new updraft formed to the north of us.

Snowfall video from one of the new members of the Alabama Storm Trackers, Tommy Self in parts of Huntsville. This is just a precursor of what is to come as our upper level system intensifies later this evening. Tommy is also the newest Severe Studios associate chaser.