12/21/06 NOW: TX / LA / MS

[Jordan Hartley]

Figured i'd go ahead and start this one since no one has already. This monster storm system has gained strength over night. SPC says "GIVEN INCREASING STRENGTH OF THE SYSTEM ACCOMPANIED BY WEAK MID/UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE NOW JUST S OF THE TX BIG BEND...TRANSFER OF DOWNWARD MOMENTUM WILL BECOME A FACTOR SUPPORTING WET MICROBURSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ELEVATED SQUALL LINE. OF CONCERN ALSO IS THE PRESENCE OF SUFFICIENT SHEAR AHEAD OF THE LOW LEVEL FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER LA. DEEP LAYER SHEAR IS RUNNING AROUND 50 KT SUFFICIENT FOR EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED BRIEF TORNADOES."

There are two impressive looking cells over the gulf coast right now S of Houston, Tx. Im preety sure both cells are putting off quite a show out at sea right now cause both storms are rotating. The air mass they are in is very active and will be moving on shore in a couple of hours. This looks to be an impressive day that is about to unfold over the gulf coast region and folks down there need to keep an eye on this one cause conditions will continue to get worse as the inland hurricane spins out of control over NW Kansas. LOL ill bet we see alot supercells in the next 24 hours!

 

[Jordan Hartley]

First tornado of the day SE of New Orleans in Morrero, La. Damaged several homes includding a house that had its roof ripped off. No warnings in effect at the moment but the most active areas havent moved on shore yet and the short wave is still west of the activity. One other thing i noticed was the amount of solid rain over vast distances with these storms. It is these storms that are now developing on the coast that will transport all the moisture needed for a big winter storm to rock the east coast and lets not forget the upper level disturbance that is still centerd over NW Kansas, hasn't travelled more than 300 miles east in the last 48 hrs. On top of that its gained strength and is now affecting areas from canada to mexico. I asked the question last night in the Fcst Discussion on this storm if El Nino had anything to do with how this storm was behaving and my question has already been answered just by watching how this Beast/Monster of a systemn has grown and continues to grow. Back to the rain local law enforcement officals reported extensive street flooding in Bay St Louis and Waveland. Expecting 2-6 inches by tommorow morning and another 5-8 by friday and the rain covers alot of ground.