Hail Producing Thunderstorms

April 21, 2005, 1:10 pm
Posted by J.B. Elliott in Severe Weather
Rating: 0/5   Votes : 0
A National Weather Service retiree, Jay Shelley was driving through Chelsea, in Shelby County, around 1:15 this afternoon. He ran into rain so heavy that people were pulling off the road and the lightning was severe.

But he also encountered hail that he thought was going to break his windshield. The hail varied from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter.

Jay, with a long-track record of knowing severe weather, reported this on his cell phone and I relayed the report to the NWS at Shelby County Airport.

In addition...The NWS also has reports of dime size hail in these places:

Downtown Northport
University of Alabama Campus, Tuscaloosa
12 miles west of Talladega
Demopolis

1/4 inch hail was also reported near Cahaba Heights and Center Point in Jefferson County.

LATE UPDATE: At 2:10 this afternoon almost all of the thunderstorms were in areas south and SE of Birmingham. The storms continue moving SE.
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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 1:07 pm
J.B. I got some awsome lightning strikes on cam corder hitting the ground their huge. I'll try to get them on the net later. I'm concerned about the mdt risk tommorrow. What are your thoughts. I think from I 20 south the mdt risk will be removed.

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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 1:11 pm
VERY impressive thunderstorm moving into central Coosa County at the moment. Lots of lightning, and heavy rain. I can hear my flowers sighing from here. Haha

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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 1:25 pm
Justin...
Glad you got some good lightning shots. You are becoming quite a lightning photographer!

I don't like to speculate too much on a a moderate risk area that is more than 24 hours down the road. Too much can happen. It is near impossible to say yes or no on areas south of I-20 being removed from the moderate risk tomorrow but, of course, it could happen.

If several some of the "ingredients in the pie" don't phase up, there could easily be changes.

As always, it is a "watch and wait" situation.

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Posted by   www
on April 21, 2005, 1:41 pm
Hi J.B., I have a question. The radar shows this current storm moving from northeast to southeast, but the clouds we were just looking at were moving from the southeast to the northwest. The upper clouds are still moving as the radar shows, but these lower clouds are moving in the opposite direction. What's up with that?

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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 1:54 pm
Patrica...
Probably due to big cold air downdrafts in the thunderstorm. The cold air hits the ground and fans out in all directions. So low scud type clouds may get caught up in the outflow.

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Posted by clanton  
on April 21, 2005, 1:55 pm
I'm 2 blocks from the courthouse in Clanton - it looks like it's nighttime here. Wind & Rain & Thunder and the Lightening, no hail yet.
Even using the manual refresh on the browser I can't get the 33/40 radar to update closer than 50 minutes ago.

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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 2:10 pm
Can you post another picture of Miss Molly?

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Posted by rusty Pitts  
on April 21, 2005, 3:00 pm
J.B. Due to the lack of cooling in the northeast corner of the state and around the Trussville and Springville area , Do you feel we have a chance to get some of the storms refiring in that area this afternoon? The air has stabalized here in central Al.. But there was little action north of 59 and east of 65 .... Im not sure , but I would think the Humidity and dew points are still relatively high in these areas.. ??

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Posted by  
on April 21, 2005, 3:14 pm
Rusty...
You are right about those areas not being worked over this afternoon. I feel there could be some development into the evening but not near the extent of Central Alabama activity this afternoon. By the time anything gets cooling the evening cool-down will be under way.

I think...but not sure...that a pocket of colder air at 500 MB enhanced this afternoon's activity. Not easy to pick out on the 500 mb chart.

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Posted by Mike  
on April 21, 2005, 4:00 pm
Don't even fool with the 33/40 Pinpoint radar...it's down too much. Just use the NWS radar...

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