1/10/08 NOW: LA / MS / TN / AL / KY

[Tony Laubach]

Sitting in York, AL... thinking the northern group is probably out of reach, I think I am going to drop south through Butler and Chatom to see how those sups down ther are looking. Cloud cover soup is really making today a tough day to spot down here.

I had strong rotation on a storm near Raleigh, MS a couple hours ago, but was blocked by trees and was left with only a broad, rotating wall cloud when I finally got a view of the base. It has some good difluent motion in it for a while, but I saw nothing.

Topping off, then south on AL-17 to see how those puppies are doing.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

TOR #18

Tornado watch #18 for central and eastern KY, until 0800pm central, 0900pm eastern. This watch does include the City of Lexington-Fayette. This is mainly for spinups in the squall line developing, not supercells like in AL, MS, or LA.

Tornado Watch #18
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0018.html

 

[Kevin Statler2]

This is gonna get bad when night time hits..oh boy..

 

[Justin E. Reed]

This is gonna get bad when night time hits..oh boy..

This is very true, the South, particularly Alabama are noted for violent overnight tornadoes, i.e. 1998 Birmingham/Oak Grove F-5, and the F-5 in Birmingham in 1977.

 

[Kevin Statler2]

Yeah,that and the main system will shift east this evening,and by the time things get really cranking in AL,it'll be dark around 5 so..think thats why this event hasnt been deadly so far,its only 230 pm..

This is very true, the South, particularly Alabama are noted for violent overnight tornadoes, i.e. 1998 Birmingham/Oak Grove F-5, and the F-5 in Birmingham in 1977.

 

[Scott Lincoln]

That could have been a debris echo as I mentioned before. Significant damage in Caledonia, MS, being reported, and tornado still on the ground in Vernon, AL.

 

[Martin North]

Caledonia has been hit. I'm hearing significant damage.

 

[Marc Remillard]

tornado confirmed in downtown Vernon. It appears a new circulation just went into Vernon .. I hope there is no fatalities there..

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Raggedy storm SW of Moulton can't seem to pull it together, but there is some shear kicking up between Moulton and Russelville in N AL.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Nashville Metro is lit up. Warnings for Maury ad Williamson, including Columbia, Franklin, and Brentwood. Over 210,000 people affected right now, next up is my home county, Rutherford, with over 250,000. These storms are really starting to seperate, and new cells rotating along the cold front behind this line.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

CNN reporting 3 injuries at elementary school in Caledonia, MS

 

[Ron_Jarrell]

Caledonia [Lowndes Co, MS] emergency mngr reports TORNADO at 02:13 PM CST -- *** 3 inj *** elementary school destroyed, 3 kids injured, trees and power lines down.

Prayers for the kids.

 

[Scott Lincoln]

Macon, MS, now is the next town I'd watch. Yellow TVS in GR2AE. NWS upgraded its text in a tornado warning update 7 minutes into the warning to "capable of strong to violent tornadoes". The storms in the area seem to have the ability to rapidly increase from slight rotation to intense rotation in less than 20-30 minutes.

 

[Justin E. Reed]

Large wall cloud with multiple funnels reported as a storm went over Hattiesburg, and is moving into its sister city of Petal, with strong rotation. Its actually beyond the two cities now. I called Columbus AFB, and much trees down, many over 50 feet tall.

 

[Scott Lincoln]

The middle school and high school in Caledonia, MS, are just south of the main business district. If the tornado was moving ENE, it could have hit the center of town as well as numerous homes.