Posts Tagged ‘Warnings’

Tornado Watch #1 has been issued this evening across portions of Missouri and Illinois for a strong cold front that has sparked some severe/tornado warned storms across the region this evening.  It looks like no confirmed reports of tornadoes are out at this time, but several reports of hail greater than .75” in diameter have been.  The tornado watch runs for the next several hours until 7AM central time.

On another note….a SLGT risk of severe weather was issued by the Storm Prediction Center around midnight for today across portions of Central Mississippi into Central/Northern Alabama.  The primary threats remain to be wind/hail but an isolated tornado occurrence is possible as well.  We will have to watch this potential through the afternoon and evening hours tomorrow and we may have teams in the field if conditions warrant. 

There is the potential for touring to take place as well.  Inquire about tours to brett@livestormsnow.com ASAP to make reservations! 

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.

WxWarn! All new software designed to warn you of severe weather! Tired of trying to find that one program that will alert you to just warnings and just for your state or a state you choose? What about color coded warnings so you can quickly find the most dangerous, such as tornadoes? Linked directly to NOAA to make sure you get the most accurate and up to date data! This program was designed just for you!

WxWarn V1.0 Features Include:
– User defined Audible Alerts.
– User defined color coding.
– User defined refresh rate from 1min to 12min.
– ForceUpdate of warnings.
– Links to all warning details.