Mike Wilhelm's Alabama Weather Blog

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Bamawx.com

After 29 hours and 505 miles spent storm chasing (without sleep) I arrived home Saturday at about 11:30. Other than enjoying the company of fellow ABC 33/40 Skywatchers John Brown, Stephanie Honeycutt, Terry Sasser, and Sarah Vines (all of whom, by the way, are Auburn Tiger fans), the highlight of the trip was witnessing a severe thunderstorm in Meridian, Mississippi at 4:00 this morning.

The storm contained strong straight-line winds that I estimate peaked around 60 miles per hour. The winds knocked out power and blew down trees in the area and there was a report of winds gusting as high as 70 mph just west of Meridian. John and Terry clocked winds as high as 53 mph on a hand held anemometer that they held out of the window of the vehicle during a portion of the storm. I will be working on a video I took during the storm and will post it soon if it turns out well enough.

After a three hour power nap after arriving home, I awakened around 3 pm today to learn that my part of North Alabama was placed under a tornado watch (below).

I decided to take the short drive up to Chapman mountain and make a few pictures and perhaps a time lapse video of the storms trying to develop around the Alabama - Tennessee border just north of Huntsville. Again, if that video turns out well enough, I will post it soon.

   URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
   TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 91
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   220 PM CDT SAT MAR 28 2009
   
   THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
   TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
   
          NORTHERN ALABAMA
          EXTREME SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS
          PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY
          MIDDLE TENNESSEE
   
   EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 220 PM UNTIL
   900 PM CDT.
   
   TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
   GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
   AREAS.
   
   THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE
   MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH OF FORT
   CAMPBELL KENTUCKY TO 30 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF HUNTSVILLE
   ALABAMA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
   ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).
   
   REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
   TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
   AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
   THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
   AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
   
   OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 89...WW 90...
   
   DISCUSSION...SURFACE HEATING HAS RESULTED IN DESTABILIZATION IN
   ADVANCE OF A SURFACE COLD FRONT NOW MOVING EWD ACROSS WRN TN/MS...TO
   THE SE OF THE SYNOPTIC CYCLONE APPROACHING SE MO AND S OF A WARM
   FRONT LIFTING SLOWLY NWD TOWARD THE OH RIVER.  THUNDERSTORM
   DEVELOPMENT WILL BECOME MORE PROBABLE IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS
   MLCAPE INCREASES TO THE 500-1000 J/KG RANGE AND CONVECTIVE
   INHIBITION WEAKENS.  AT THE SAME TIME...STRONG DEEP LAYER VERTICAL
   WILL BE MAINTAINED OVER THE WARM SECTOR ON THE NOSE OF THE 80 KT MID
   LEVEL JET...AND LOW-LEVEL HODOGRAPH CURVATURE WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR
   RIGHT-MOVING SUPERCELLS.  THE COMBINATION OF MODEST INSTABILITY AND
   STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR APPEARS FAVORABLE FOR A BROKEN BAND OF
   SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A FEW TORNADOES...ALONG WITH LARGE
   HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.  THE SEVERE THREAT SHOULD INCREASE THROUGH
   THE AFTERNOON...AND THEN GRADUALLY DIMINISH AFTER SUNSET AS THE
   BOUNDARY LAYER STABILIZES.
   
   AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
   SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
   WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
   450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24040.
   
 
  ...THOMPSON