2/17/08: DISC AL/FL/GA/MS/LA

[Brett Adair]

Wow.....hell of a day. After chasing 3 supercells that formed within/out ahead of the QLCS it looks like some significant tornado occurances have been reported in our CWA. A good media contact of mine says that some of the Prattville damage looks EF-3 or potentially higher. No word on if there are any deaths as a result, but search and rescue efforts are still ongoing on the north side of Montgomery. A curfew is in effect for the area until 7am. Most of this stuff was a rain wrapped mess, but I wonder if this storm that went into Prattville was anticyclonic or a new tornado/meso forming west of an initial tornado to the south. If you watch the radar data you will see that the storm pulled a Greensburg with its track and took a due left turn right into Prattville. Interesting storm.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Reports of one storm producing a tornado damage track of ~260 miles! Also, for 2008 so far, already 291 preliminary tornado reports... unbelievable!

 

[Tony Lyza]

Per WSFA in Montgomery, the Prattville, AL, tornado is being rated EF4.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7886525

 

[Kevin Statler2]

Per WSFA in Montgomery, the Prattville, AL, tornado is being rated EF4.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7886525

And this month isnt over yet! ugh..i think it'll be a record. 6 F4's this month so far.

 

[Chris Hayes]

I think the news people at WSFA are confused. They say it's being rated as EF4, but said the winds were estimated to be at 140mph. That puts it in the EF3 range. Be interesting to see what the NWS says about the rating.

 

[Tony Lyza]

I think the news people at WSFA are confused. They say it's being rated as EF4, but said the winds were estimated to be at 140mph. That puts it in the EF3 range. Be interesting to see what the NWS says about the rating.

My guess is that it's EF4 based off the fact that they say the MIC at BMX confirmed the EF4 rating and that the TV met on WSFA elaborated on the wind speeds.

 

[Chris Hayes]

My guess is that it's EF4 based off the fact that they say the MIC at BMX confirmed the EF4 rating and that the TV met on WSFA elaborated on the wind speeds.

Probably right. However they should have said EF tornado winds of over 166mph. Not 140mph for hurricanes. They're a few months ahead of themselves

 

[Brett Adair]

I thought that a QRT had to come in to give the EF-4 rating? The damage that I have seen via the arieal shots looks to be EF-3. I guess at ground level they can see something more but I can't find an EF-4 indicator thus far.

 

[Brett Adair]

Per WSFA in Montgomery, the Prattville, AL, tornado is being rated EF4.

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7886525

***CORRECTION***

WSFA apparently had a typo. The storm has been rated an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

 

[Tony Lyza]

***CORRECTION***

WSFA apparently had a typo. The storm has been rated an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

That does make more sense given the aerial shots from ABC 33/40.

 

[Chris C Sanner]

If the 260 mile track is indeed confirmed at that length wouldn't that be a new record over the infamous Tri-State Tornado? I've seen official accounts of varying length but it would at least have to be up there with that storm.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Reports of one storm producing a tornado damage track of ~260 miles! Also, for 2008 so far, already 291 preliminary tornado reports... unbelievable!

I have not seen nor heard that report here in Alabama. The most anyone here at NWS or others have said are expected to be in the 60 - 70 mile range, but that has not been made official yet as the surveys are not complete.

 

[Angie Norris]

If I understood correctly, the news here is reporting the storm track was 260 miles. I take that to be the distance the supercell traveled. Looking at the dots on SPC's storm report page, it doesn't look like the tornado path was continuous. The aerial survey will tell the story.

 

[Brian Stertz]

So far it seems like 3 counties for the track (Lowndes, Autauga, Elmore) so not sure if the 260 mile long track will be validated for this particular tornado. From what I saw on radar, it looked like it weakened quite a bit as it moved further northeast into Elmore Co. The srv's became more linearly aligned on that supercell with time. It did have a pretty massive and powerful RFD though back in Autauga Co., so it's no coincidence the EF3 rating was in that county.

I was a bit astonished that the intense supercell that tracked from the N. Florida Panhandle across SE Alabama into Georgia did not have a higher rating than EF2. Some of those velocity couplets were very high, and the consistency of strong gate to gate srv's was very impressive over such a long distance.

 

[Brett Adair]

So far it seems like 3 counties for the track (Lowndes, Autauga, Elmore) so not sure if the 260 mile long track will be validated for this particular tornado. From what I saw on radar, it looked like it weakened quite a bit as it moved further northeast into Elmore Co. The srv's became more linearly aligned on that supercell with time. It did have a pretty massive and powerful RFD though back in Autauga Co., so it's no coincidence the EF3 rating was in that county.

I was a bit astonished that the intense supercell that tracked from the N. Florida Panhandle across SE Alabama into Georgia did not have a higher rating than EF2. Some of those velocity couplets were very high, and the consistency of strong gate to gate srv's was very impressive over such a long distance.

Reguarding the South AL supercell....the simple answer is that it hit mostly wooded areas.