The severe weather outbreak is underway across the Deep South. Tornado warnings are being issued for Mississippi and Alabama. This will continue through the afternoon and evening. Eventually, the threat will shift northward into Tennessee.
Currently, there is a terrible storm south of Birmingham. This is a tornado emergency for Shelby County, Alabama. That means a confirmed and destructive tornado is moving into populated areas. We will see more storms like this the rest of this day.
The closest tornado watch is currently across southern Middle Tennessee. That will change. It is nearly guaranteed that all of Middle Tennessee and much of East Tennessee will be under tornado watches within the next several hours.
I stepped outside and noticed the highest clouds are moving from west to east. The lower clouds are moving from south to north, and the lowest clouds are moving from the southeast. I haven’t seen this much wind shear (change in wind direction/speed with height) in a long time.
The chances of the entire Cumberland Plateau getting out of this unscathed are getting lower by the hour. Let’s hope that any supercell that encounters the plateau weakens. Let’s hope.
We’re still looking good for now. That could change rapidly and we need to be weather aware by 3:00 pm. Storms may hold off later than that but I’d go ahead and make sure you’re watching the weather by 3:00.
Storms are still expected to move rapidly, leaving little time to take cover in some instances. Be mindful of this. We will be under the threat for isolated thunderstorms capable of all forms of severe weather this evening. Then, we’ll deal with a squall line of thunderstorms later on. This should all be over with by midnight.
Because of those isolated supercells that may develop, we struggle to tell you exact timing. I have been slammed with timing questions. That’s just not possible because a storm could develop anytime after 3:00 to our southwest or even across the plateau.
Remember, treat severe t-storm warnings as if they were tornado warnings. They could quickly become tornadic.
I have more info in the last blog post, in case you missed it.
As soon as I see something special posted for our area, I’ll let you know. For now, we wait and we wrap up whatever we’re doing this afternoon.
