Late Night Severe Weather Thoughts… Sunday Update – 11:20pm

Good Sunday night! As of the 11pm hour, things are very quiet across Alabama. Things will change during the afternoon hours on Monday, as severe weather breaks out across Alabama. We have been watching for round 1 during the early morning hours of Monday, but that round looks very minor at this time; in-fact, most of the area will be dry through the morning hours, especially south of I-20. A decaying line of showers and storms will die out as they reach northwest Alabama. There is a chance these morning storms will remain northwest of I-20. Our main concern will occur Monday evening and Monday night. This appears to be a significant severe weather risk, so please remain weather alert!

What to expect: As the atmosphere heats up on Monday, lift and wind shear will gradually increase across the area. This will set the stage for supercell thunderstorms to develop once the cap breaks sometime during the mid afternoon hours on Monday. Since this should start off as supercells, it will be hard to tell a start/end time for a specific area. Just be aware that severe weather is possible in your area as early as 4pm and lasting as late as sunrise Tuesday morning. This round of severe storms will gradually come to an end from west to east by sunrise Tuesday morning. These storms will bring the risk of tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and flash flooding. Some storms may produce a long track, strong tornado. The highest risk of severe weather and tornadoes will occur near and northwest of Linden to Marion to Clanton to Anniston. Understand, there’s still a risk of severe weather south of these areas, but the risk is a little lower.

Most severe weather ingredients are matching for Monday afternoon, evening and overnight. While this appears to be a big severe weather risk, this will not reach the historic status like April 27th. I’m not sure why people keep asking, “will this be like April 27th, 2011?’ We had 62 tornadoes in Alabama on that day, and it takes a very unique event for that to occur. The ingredients are high, but not high enough to produce a huge number of tornadoes like on that date. That being said, it only takes on tornado in your area to cause major issues for you. I do expect several tornadoes across west and central Alabama. The best word of advice I can give you is not to worry if this will be like April 27th, but to have a plan of action incase a tornado moves in your area. We will compare events after it’s over and the stats have been released.

A final round of strong to severe storms will develop and spread across Alabama Tuesday afternoon and evening. This round all depends on how much heating we have or how much time the atmosphere has to recover after the morning storms on Tuesday. The longer the rain and clouds stick around on Tuesday, the lower the air temperature will be and the more stable the atmosphere will be. The risk will be lower on Tuesday afternoon and evening, if we remain cool and stable all day. If it gets warmer and we have several hours of a break between the morning and afternoon round, the risk Tuesday afternoon and evening will increase. Remain alert on Tuesday, incase the atmosphere has time to recover and produce severe weather. These threats will include damaging winds, tornadoes, hail and flash flooding.

Storm event rain totals between what fell today and what falls through late Tuesday night will reach 3″ to 6″ for most of west and central Alabama.

What to do: Go over your severe weather plans. I know it’s been a while since we’ve had a big risk, so it’s important to go over that plan incase you don’t have much warning. Make sure the alert on your NOAA Weather Radio is turned on. If you don’t have one, go out and get a NOAA Weather Radio that’s programmable county by county. A midland NOAA Weather Radio is good. When the severe weather moves in, we’ll be on TV talking about it. During a tornado warning, we will be on air non-stop with the latest. Remember, lowest floor of your home, in a closest or bathtub, in a basement if possible, away from windows. If you live in a Mobile Home or car, find shelter elsewhere…

If your area goes under a tornado warning, I’ll be on TV to let you know the latest. Make sure you have a source to wake you up incase a tornado warning is issued. A NOAA Weather Radio is a great tool to wake you up and alert you if a tornado approaches. You can then turn on the TV to WVUA, and we’ll be on there for the exact track and latest information.

Send us your weather pictures! Send them to weather@wvuatv.com. Also, look us up on facebook and twitter. Like us on facebook by searching facebook.com/wvuaweather or WVUA-TV Weather. You can find us on twitter by searching weather@wvuatv.comor WVUA-TV Weather. Great way to get weather updates! Plus, facebook is a great way to send us weather pictures. Simply tag us!

Join us live on WVUA-TV weekdays at 5, 6 and 10:00 P.M. and weekends at 10PM for the very latest on your news, weather and sports.

Richard Scott
WVUA Chief Meteorologist
rscott@wvuatv.com
Twitter: Richard_wvua

Flash Flood Watch for Central Alabama (4:55PM 4/7/2014)

The National Weather Service in Birmingham has placed its entire coverage area under a flash flood watch. This watch is in effect at 4PM on Monday till 7PM on Wednesday. This includes all of the Birmingham metro area, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Anniston, Clanton, Centreville, Demopolis, and so forth.

Expect lots of rain over the next few days!

Spinks Megginson
WVUA Weekend Weather Anchor

Severe Weather Problems Ahead… Sunday Update – 12pm

Good Sunday early afternoon! We are on the eve of a big severe weather event across the southeastern US, and unfortunately, that includes Alabama. As of 12:10pm Sunday, we’ve got a batch of rain and thunder moving from west to east across the area. These storms are not severe, but they are rather noisy, with lightning and heavy rain. There have been some reports of minor flooding with this wave of rain. The good news… this batch of rain will quickly end this afternoon from west to east, making for a nice Sunday mid-afternoon and evening across the state. Temperatures will get warmer, as this batch of rain moves east of us.

Now, onto the severe weather risk for Monday and Tuesday. Above is the Day 2 convective outlook from the Storm Prediction Center for Monday. The SPC has much of Alabama under a moderate risk of severe weather. This risk includes everyone near and northwest of Gadsden, Alabaster, Centreville, Greensboro and Demopolis. South of that area, you’re under an enhanced slight risk. This is for the round Monday afternoon and evening, which looks to be a significant risk for our area. The bottom line… All of west and central Alabama is in a severe weather risk on Monday.

Round 1: We’ll get a round of storms for areas near and northwest of I-20 early Monday morning between 3am and 10am. This may produce an isolated wind damage report or a spin-up tornado, but this round will be weakening as it enters Alabama. The main risk of anything becoming severe will be northwest of I-20, but I can’t rule out a storm reaching severe limits as far south as I-20.

Round 2: This looks like the most serious round, with thunderstorms developing during the afternoon heating process. These storms could produce damaging winds, tornadoes, large hail and flash flooding. Keep in mind, storms will also produce intense lightning. Our main concern is that supercells will develop and produce severe issues Monday afternoon and evening. This should all merge into a squall line sometime after dark on Monday and slowly slide southeast through the overnight hours Monday. This will create flash flooding, as very heavy rain falls in the same areas for a long period of time. Any supercells that develop will have the chance of producing a strong, long track tornado. Please be severe weather alert during round 2!

Round 3: This will come during the afternoon and evening hours on Tuesday. This round may also produce damaging winds, tornadoes and large hail. Any additional rain would cause more flash flooding issues. The big question with round 3 is whether we have a break in the rain and enough time to heat up between round 2 and round 3. If it rains much of the day Tuesday, then that would limit the severe weather risk. If we have the sun break out and several hours to heat up, then Tuesday afternoon and evening would become a bigger risk too.  Above is the convective outlook percentages from the Storm Prediction Center.

What to do: Go over your severe weather plans. I know it’s been a while since we’ve had a big risk, so it’s important to go over that plan incase you don’t have much warning. Make sure the alert on your NOAA Weather Radio is turned on. If you don’t have one, go out and get a NOAA Weather Radio that’s programmable county by county. A midland NOAA Weather Radio is good. When the severe weather moves in, we’ll be on TV talking about it. During a tornado warning, we will be on air non-stop with the latest. Remember, lowest floor of your home, in a closest or bathtub, in a basement if possible, away from windows. If you live in a Mobile Home or car, find shelter elsewhere…

If your area goes under a tornado warning, I’ll be on TV to let you know the latest. Make sure you have a source to wake you up incase a tornado warning is issued. A NOAA Weather Radio is a great tool to wake you up and alert you if a tornado approaches. You can then turn on the TV to WVUA, and we’ll be on there for the exact track and latest information.

Send us your weather pictures! Send them to weather@wvuatv.com. Also, look us up on facebook and twitter. Like us on facebook by searching facebook.com/wvuaweather or WVUA-TV Weather. You can find us on twitter by searching weather@wvuatv.comor WVUA-TV Weather. Great way to get weather updates! Plus, facebook is a great way to send us weather pictures. Simply tag us!

Join us live on WVUA-TV weekdays at 5, 6 and 10:00 P.M. and weekends at 10PM for the very latest on your news, weather and sports.

Richard Scott
WVUA Chief Meteorologist
rscott@wvuatv.com
Twitter: Richard_wvua

Looking Back: The Historic Tornado Outbreak of April 27th, 2011… Sunday Update – 11:30am

Above is a clip of our coverage before we lost power due to the massive Tuscaloosa tornado. We were in a building called Reese Phifer Hall on the University of Alabama campus. UA campus has a very protected power supply, so we never invested in a back-up generator. There was never a need for one because the power source was very secure. We lost power on April 27th, as the tornado was tracking into the Forest Lake area of Tuscaloosa. The tornado destroyed 4 power substations in Tuscaloosa, so to say the least, that took our power supply. We were brushed by the tornado as it tracked through town. The core of the tornado missed us by 0.90 miles, but inflow winds were estimated at 80 mph at our TV Station. Fortunately, in the new Digital Media Center, we have a backup generator. In the event of power failure, we will have the ability to remain on air now…

It was 3 years ago today, when a horrible tornado outbreak changed my life. It’s a day that affected so many people on so many ways. Not only did a powerful tornado hit the city of Tuscaloosa, Alberta City and Holt, but 62 tornadoes tracked across the state. Many people lost their home, including myself. I lived in a neighborhood behind Big Lots and Hobby Lobby. I was so fortunate because I survived the storm, and so did all of my close friends and family. Numerous friends of mine did lose their home or apartment, but they made it out with their life, and that’s what’s most important in the end.

The days leading up to the big outbreak were more than concerning, they were downright frightening. We had a dangerous squall line move through that morning, which left many without power. When the sun came out early that morning, many folks though the severe weather was over, but the worst was yet to come. The sun added to the instability. The instability was a disastrous ingredient thrown into strong wind shear. Shear and instability are the ingredients that aren’t good to have together.

Every storm was producing large tornadoes, and the chance of tornadoes in one area was higher than I’ve ever seen before. Since the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham tornado affected me personally, I’ll focus on that tornado. Understand, there were 62 tornadoes that day that led to the largest single day tornado outbreak in Alabama’s history and nearly the most deadly. So many people were affected outside the large cities, in small towns scattered across the state.

The first tornado of the afternoon round hit downtown Cullman just after 3pm. After seeing video and hearing reports of what just happened in that area, Daniel Sparkman and I knew this really was going to be as bad as expected. A small supercell storm had just produced a large tornado in a large town; it was a disaster already.

At about 4pm, we started eyeballing a storm that was located in east Mississippi. This storm had a path directly towards Tuscaloosa. It was producing a tornado as it crossed the state line. Once it moved into Tuscaloosa County, we got the report of a wedge tornado with this storm. That was frightening! We knew this would become a disaster for the city of Tuscaloosa, Holt and Alberta City. We got the first glimpse of the tornado from our Tuscaloosa towercam when it was 20 miles away. It was at 5:13pm, when the tornado moved into the southwest side of Tuscaloosa. The warning system was as good as it gets for the storm, yet the tornado was so large, it was simply un-survivable in spots. Be sure to watch the video above from our severe weather coverage. It’s amazing that we stayed on air as long as we could. The main thought going through my mind at the time was warn as many as we can before we get hit. I thought the tornado was going to make a direct hit on our TV station. We were very close! Fortunately, the tornado just missed us to the south by 0.90 miles. Aka. Less that one mile…

After the tornado hit and we and lost power, I knew we had no way to broadcast on television. My main concern was getting to my house, where my roommate and WVUA Director, Jonathan Newman, was at the time. I had no idea what to expect, but I feared the worst. I parked my truck on the side of McFarland BLVD less than 10 minutes after the tornado hit. Rescue personal wasn’t even on the scene just yet. The sound of store and car alarms and police sirens filled the air. The smell of mud, tree sap and natural gas was so strong, it would nearly choke you. The sight of people climbing out of a pile of wood and brick was a sight I’ll never forget. When I got to my house, Jonathan was standing in the front yard. I was so relieved when I saw he was ok and so were my neighbors. Some of my neighbors had injuries, but they were not life-threatening. Unfortunately, that was a different story only 200 yards away, where several people didn’t survive the storm. More than 50 people died in Tuscaloosa alone and over 250 people died in the state of Alabama, making it one of the most deadly tornado outbreaks in US and state history. Below is a picture of my house the day after the tornado hit.

This event changed my life, and I’ll never look at storms the same way. Severe weather will continue to happen at times, and that’s a part of life we will have to live with. I don’t think we will ever see an event nearly the magnitude of this one. It only takes one tornado, so please take every warning serious.

Above is a map across our area that shows the tornado tracks and ratings on April 27th. This map tells a big story!

Be sure to join me on WVUA-TV news at 5, 6 and 10pm weekdays for the latest on your forecast. Also, look us up on facebook and twitter by searching weather@wvuatv.com. You can like us on facebook by searching our new page WVUA-TV Weather. Also, send us your weather pictures by e-mail to weather@wvuatv.com. Have a great day!

WVUA Chief Meteorologist Richard Scott

rscott@wvuatv.com

Map Source: NWS Birmingham