Seems like our severe weather events this fall are the “pre-dawn” variety, which is not exactly our favorite time for a severe weather outbreak. First off, most folks are asleep when tornado warnings are posted at 3:45 a.m., and many people in Alabama still do not have a NOAA Weather Radio receiver in their home. I can’t turn on the TV set, walk down the hall, and wake families up. Having said that, I am rather amazed at the ratings our station generates during the late night/early morning rounds of severe weather. Some folks do indeed stay up or get up early with us.
We started our continuous coverage on ABC 33/40 early yesterday morning around 3:15 a.m. as rotating storms were approaching the Alabama border from the west. The “storm of the morning” intensified over Columbus, Mississippi, and our radar system was showing just about everything associated with a tornado: low level shear locks, a tornado vortex signature, and a strong velocity couplet. But, as we always point out, radar does NOT detect tornadoes because the beam is well off the ground. And, getting spotter reports at 3:45 a.m. in a rural part of the state is almost impossible.
So, we started telling folks in southwest Lamar county to go through their tornado plan, and a few minutes later the NWS in Birmingham issued a formal tornado warning for southern Lamar county. The rotation signatures slowly faded by 4:30 a.m. as the storms moved east, and just scattered tree and power line damage was reported across the rest of the state.
As it turned out, that storm did produce tornado damage over southwest Lamar county in the general area between Millport and Columbus. We will get more details after the NWS does a damage survey later today.
We started our continuous coverage on ABC 33/40 early yesterday morning around 3:15 a.m. as rotating storms were approaching the Alabama border from the west. The “storm of the morning” intensified over Columbus, Mississippi, and our radar system was showing just about everything associated with a tornado: low level shear locks, a tornado vortex signature, and a strong velocity couplet. But, as we always point out, radar does NOT detect tornadoes because the beam is well off the ground. And, getting spotter reports at 3:45 a.m. in a rural part of the state is almost impossible.
So, we started telling folks in southwest Lamar county to go through their tornado plan, and a few minutes later the NWS in Birmingham issued a formal tornado warning for southern Lamar county. The rotation signatures slowly faded by 4:30 a.m. as the storms moved east, and just scattered tree and power line damage was reported across the rest of the state.
As it turned out, that storm did produce tornado damage over southwest Lamar county in the general area between Millport and Columbus. We will get more details after the NWS does a damage survey later today.
a few weeks ago, and it is not what it's cracked up to be. I woke up the other morning because the wind sounded like it was going to bust the windows out. No siren had gone off. I looked at the display screen on the NOAA machine --- nothing. None of those little lights were blinking. But it sounded awful outside, so I turned it on. And the announcer reads off not only a severe thunderstorm warning for Cullman County but also a tornado watch. I headed for the basement. At least I'm a fairly light sleeper. But it would be nice if these NOAA radios actually worked. Especially when they're so hard to find and expensive.
on December 8, 2004, 1:09 pm
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