One of the most dangerous looking storms you will ever see right now on the Springfield MO radar...

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO 1122 PM CST SUN MAR 12 2006 MOC229-130615- /O.CON.KSGF.TO.W.0042.000000T0000Z-060313T0615Z/ WRIGHT MO- 1122 PM CST SUN MAR 12 2006 ...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WRIGHT COUNTY UNTIL 1215 AM CST... ...THIS IS A TORNADO EMERGENCY FOR RURAL SECTIONS OF WRIGHT COUNTY INCLUDING THE COMMUNITY OF DUNCAN... AT 1121 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND STORM SPOTTERS WERE TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO. THE TORNADO WAS LOCATED 9 MILES NORTH OF SEYMOUR...OR 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MARSHFIELD...AND MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL BE... 6 MILES NORTH OF HARTVILLE BY 1135 PM CST. THE TOWNS OF ODIN...GROVESPRING...MANES AND GRAFF ARE ALSO IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG TO VIOLENT TORNADOES. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!

Widespread severe weather is occurring tonight across the midsection of the country with multiple tornadoes reported on the ground this evening and significant reports of damage and injuries beginning to come in.

Let's try to get a handle on it...

Springfield MO Area...At least three or four tornadic supercells in progress...

Potentially tornadic storm in southern Missouri southwest of Branson....will pass near the famous town in the next few minutes...

Another tornadic storm was east of Springfield..showing clear hook echo

Another dangerous storm southwest of Jefferson City MO, heading toward that town...this storm looks especially dangerous from the St. Louis radar

Kansas City Area...all clear for the metro...

A long squall line with very severe storms was moving across western Missouri and eastern Kansas...a solid line of severe thunderstorm warnings is accompanying the line...tornado warnings also in effect for Bates and Henry and a couple of other counties in West Missouri with this intense squall line...this line was moving east at 70 mph...

St. Louis...

Tornado warnings from Ralls and Marion County...strong rotation indicated...same storm produced earlier damage near Moberly...

Central Illinois...

Severe squall line over northwestern sections of state...several severe thunderstorm warnings associated with it...

Peoria and Knox Counties under tornado warning for dangerous storm shown southeast of Galesburg...

Strong rotation indicated on large storm in Iroquois County near the Indiana border south of Kankakee. This storm is about to move into Indiana. A new tornado watch will be issued for parts of northern Indiana shortly. The tornado threat is going to be increasing for northern Inidiana overnight.

Some damage reports...not all inclusive...

Illinois...

Significant damage is reported tonight from Springfield IL...damage occurred between 830 and 930 p.m...reports of injuries and people unaccounted for...

Trained spotters reported a tornado at 10:10 pm from Farmer City in DeWitt County at 10:10 p.m.

Missouri...

Tornado on the ground just after 8 p.m. from Knob Noster in Johnson County MO...1/2 mile wide.

Possible tornado reported at Neosho in Newton County

Semi overturned onto cars on I-70 in Saline County Missouri about 8:15 p.m. Possible injuries.

Tornado reported about 9:30 p.m. 2 miles south of Moberly in Randolph County.

Tornado reported around 9:28 p.m. in the Filley Community in Cedar County MO with injuries and people reported missing...A tornado was reported at ElDorado Springs in that same county a few minutes earlier...

A one half mile wide tornado was reported at Lamonte in Pettis County MO around 9:08 p.m.

8:55 p.m.: Tornado producing damage jsut south of Whiteman AFB in Johnson County, MO...

Numerous homes damaged in the north central part of Columbia MS. Time: 5:20 p.m.

Sorm chasers Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski reported cars blown off I-70 south of Marshall with sigificant damage feared in that town.

A possible tornado was just reported in the town of Marionville in Lawrence County MO.

There have now been at least 61 reports of tornadoes, 53 reports of wind damage and a whopping 279 reports of large hail today.

All this and no end in sight for these areas of Missouri, Illinois and now moving into Indiana.

The Blizzard of ‘93 is already folklore in Alabama—an event that will never be forgotten. Today, however, let’s discuss some other March snow events in Alabama.

While snow is unusual in March, it may not be as unusual as you think.

On March 24, 1983, moderate to heavy snow fell in parts of Central and North Alabama in the wee morning hours. At daybreak there was 5 inches on the ground at Lafayette, 3 inches at Clanton and Sylacauga and 2 inches in Birmingham and Valley Head.

On March 21, 1915, nearly 3 inches of snow fell on Birmingham—one day before the official arrival of spring. It quickly melted when afternoon temperatures reached 48.

A more widespread snowstorm came to Alabama on March 13, 1924. A heavy wet snow covered a large part of North and Central Alabama. The snow clung to everything and caused lots of damage. There were major interruptions in communications. It was probably the most damage ever in March from a snow or ice storm until the Blizzard of ‘93.

In that 1924 storm, Birmingham got 6.5 inches of snow—all of it falling in less than 12 hours. At that time, way back in 1924, Birmingham had 50 long distance telephone circuits and 45 of them were crippled. Western Union reported all telegraph lines were down except one to New Orleans. The Birmingham Weather Office was cut off from everybody.

At Greensboro in Hale County, there was the unusual sight of mockingbirds and robins hopping about in the heavy snow. Greensboro and Talladega got 6 inches, Clanton 4 inches and Anniston 5 inches.

On March 24, 1983, a 2-inch snow fell in Birmingham—the latest measurable on record.

Did you notice that all of these snow events in this story occurred in the latter half of March except the one on March 13?

So, what does all of this mean? It means we cannot absolutely rule out a risk of snow until deep into March. This is no hint that we are looking for one later this month. No indications of that right now.

Life goes on--snow or no snow.

The central part of the United States was being pounded this evening by a significant severe weather outbreak. Radar just before 8 pm CST showed a line of discrete thunderstorms, most likely supercells, from northern Illinois across southeast Iowa then into north central Missouri and southwestward into northeast Oklahoma. One monstrous supercell was moving across central Illinois out ahead of the line. Numerous tornado warnings were in effect along with many, many severe thunderstorm warnings.

At 8 pm, SPC showed 18 tornado reports, 31 damaging wind reports, and 207 hail reports. Three-inch hail was reported 6 miles southwest of Chanute in Wilson County, KS, and softball size hail in Prescott in Linn County, KS. Many of the hail reports were in the range from golf ball to baseball size.

Fortunately there don't appear to be any reports of deaths or injuries yet, however, now that darkness has fallen, it won't be easy to see a tornado coming.

At this writing tornado watches were in effect for portions of Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

Spring, at least meteorological spring, has sure gotten off to one heck of BANG!!

-Brian-

Severe weather is ongoing across the Midwest early this afternoon.

Storm chaser Aaron Blaser reported that the tornadic storm that passed through Lawrence, Kansas passed within one mile of his house earlier this morning. The interesting fact was that the storm was 100 miles north of the warm front. Normally, you would expect the severe storms to be right along the warm front.

A PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watch is in effect now for most of Missouri, eastern Kansas and western Illinois.

The Storm Prediction Center maintains a High Risk outlook across eastern Kansas, much of Missouri, southeastern Iowa and western Illinois. A Moderate Risk covers the rest of the area bounded by Chicago to Cincinnati to Cape Girardeau to Memphis to Texarkana to the SE Corner of Nebraska and back to Chicago.

As of 12:30, there had been 5 tornado reports across the area, plus a possible tornado at Reno in Leavenworth County, Kansas, where debris was reportedly falling from the sky. There have been numerous reports of large hail and wind damage across the area from southeastern Nebraska across northeastern Kansas into northern Missouri.

Storms are intensifying over southeastern Kansas. Topeka just issued a Tornado Warning for the area southeast of Emporia for a supercell storm that shows evidence of rotation. This activity is right near the triple point, or boundary between the dry line and warm front. This activity will be the most dangerous as it lifts into Missouri and eventually into Illinois.

A new tornado watch has just been issued for parts of eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri for activity that is beginning to develop along the dry line over northeastern Oklahoma.

A new watch may be issued shortly for parts of Iowa as the storms in northern Missouri that are north of the warm front lift northward.

The new Day Two Convective Outlook has upgraded the area from southeastern Indiana, much of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Central and eastern Kentucky to a Moderate Risk for tomorrow. We are still in a Slight Risk area. The Storm Prediction Center predicts that sufficient shear and instability will be in place into the Deep South with damaging winds and hail the greatest threat.

All Alabamians will want to pay close attention to later forecasts this afternoon, tonight and on Monday and stay close to a reliable source of weather information tomorrow. Be able to hear watches and warnings and review your severe weather safety plan so that you can react immediately in case severe weather approaches your location.

The Sunday map discussion video is on the server at:

http://beta.abc3340.com/weather/video.hrb

It is going to be a busy day for meteorologists in the central US today with parameters coming together for a potentially significant tornado outbreak. Watches are already in place and I'm certain we'll see many more of those along with numerous warnings as the day goes on. But back in Alabama, we're expecting another warm day as afternoon high temperatures reach the lower 80s. And dew points remain in the lower and mid 60s, so our air mass is conditionally unstable. We might see a shower or two in the afternoon, but there is nothing besides afternoon heating to help kick off showers, so we should remain essentially dry.

The action for us looks like it will come Monday afternoon and evening as the low pressure system moving through the central US today reaches the Great Lakes area and drags a cold front through Alabama. We'll remain very moist but with the best dynamics well to our north, but severe thunderstorms are a real possibility from Alabama and Mississippi all the way to the New England States.

The cold front ushers in cooler and drier air for Tuesday. As the high settles over the Southeast, we should see a good radiational cooling night Tuesday night with Wednesday morning lows in the mid 30s.

A short wave in the northwest flow on Thursday will bring another shot of precipitation, but this does not appear to be a severe weather maker. The Gulf opens once again but the overall dynamics don't seem to be strong enough for a severe weather threat.

Our weather dries out once again on Friday and Saturday with another cool morning Saturday. Saturday should be a great day with highs in the upper 60s. Another chance of rain comes on Sunday.

ALERT, the Alabama Emergency Response Team, the amateur radio operators who work at the NWS office at the Shelby County Airport during severe weather communicating with storm spotters will be holding their regular monthly meeting this coming Tuesday at 7 pm at the Bluff Park Community Center. If you are an amateur radio operator interested in emergency communications, you are invited to come to the meeting and see what ALERT is all about.

Hope your Sunday is a good one with a great upcoming week. Stay weather-wise.

-Brian-

Here is a look at the high risk of severe storms for today, as noted in Bill Murray's post below this one:



Looks like a very busy day for our friends in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Little Rock.

A significant tornado outbreak could occur today across Arkansas, Missouri, southeastern Iowa, much of Illinois and Indiana and western Kentucky and northwesern Tennessee...

The Storm Prediction Center has actually issued a High Risk Outlook for portions of this area today and a Moderate Risk for the rest of that area.

Thunderstorms are ongoing this morning from southeastern Missouri through the Ohio RIver Valley to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Flash flooding is occurring across several counties through this area early this morning.

Our first surface low is moving into Michigan, leaving a frontal boundary strung back to Oklahoma. This front will come back north as a warm front today as another surface low moves out onto the Plains.

Storms will begin to develop and intensify by late morning along the warm front over Kansas into Missouri and eventually into Southeast Iowa. An expansive area of instability, especially just south of the warm front, will be available to storms. This activity will shift into Illinois by this evening.

Wind shear will be very high, with even the thought that it could be too high. Look for big tornadoes today over northern Missouri and southeast Iowa where helicity values will be extreme.

Additional storms will fire along the dryline today from eastern Kansas down into eastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. More tornadoes can be expected from this activity, which will move over into Arkansas later.

Finally, supercells could form throughout the warm sector today, perhaps as far south as North Mississippi. Most of the paramteres are in place. It will be a big severe weather day.

Here in Alabama, we should stay high and dry with a warm, conditionally unstable airmass, but nothing to spark storms except for daytime heating. Don't be surprised to see a few small cells pop up like yesterday, but rain chances will be small for us.

Tomorrow will be a different story. As the trough and cold front approaches us, thunderstorms will develop during the day. These storms will have the potential to be supercells with their attendant problems, such as large hail, downburst winds and tornadoes. The SPC has much of Alabama included in a Slight Risk for severe weather Monday.

At least 16 reports of tornadoes were received overnight from northwestern Arkansas to southern Indiana. One of the most significant reports came from St. Mary in Perry County, Missouriwere numerous injuries were reported with people still trapped in mobile homes... It occurred about 9:44 p.m.