Scottsboro, Al Storms

[Rich Long]

I'm going to be participating in a large search and rescue competition in the middle of June. I have been talking to a few local folks there that told me because of the mountains most storms are diverted around the city. Do we have any members that live in the area that can confirm or debunk this?

I'll be watching from now till June but I wanted to tap chasers familiar with the area.

 

[Dave Marshall]

It's been shown repeatedly that mountains don't really have much effect on a storms once they're established. It may change their nature or appearance slightly, but they generally just smile and keep on coming. I've chased that area repeatedly, including the Good Friday outbreak of 2009 (high risk day). That day I caught numerous supercells and 5 tornadoes, the first of which was within 15 miles of Scottsboro. You're south of the Mason Dixon and east of the Rockies, there is nowhere that gets preferential treatment down there. That area is probably at least as good for overall annual tornadoes as western Georgia, which rivals Indiana and Illinois for total tornado numbers.

Every body from every town figures they have some special protection until the day it comes riding over the mountains and straight through town. Ask anybody in the deep hills of the Allegheny Mountains that lived through May 31st, 1985 just how much protection those hills were.

I'd point out that one of those tornadoes from Good Friday last year was *in* Jackson county. It was a 1/2 mile wide EF-3, was on the ground nearly 30 miles, and injured 5 people. It was one of the most significant of the day, from what I could see, probably eclipsing the Murfreesboro tornado.
Bottom line, it's wishful thinking, and it's the same "can't happen to me" wishful thinking that kills a lot of people every year.

Those are the reports for a single day, and Scottsboro was pretty much right at the epicenter.

 

[Wes Carter]

Rich, do some searches here. Joshua Lietz has made a really good tool for researching historical tornadoes.

But what it boils down to is this: Tornadoes are such small events that most points on a map will not get hit by one during a person's lifetime. So that same person can erroneously conclude that where they are is protected because 'they all pass just North or South of here' or 'they always lift up before they get here'. That's true for almost any point on a map in tornado country.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Rich, we've had a number of storms in north Alabama that simply cross mountains with tornadoes on the ground all the way, though there may be a holiday in damage just east of whatever crest they are crossing. We also get some very small cells that don't look like they'd have much potential, yet manage to drop a funnel. It pays to be wary.

I'd recommend an email to NWS Huntsville [email protected] or a phone call (during non-severe weather) at 256-890-8503 for an authoritative answer.

Meanwhile, this guy has a couple interesting photos from 4/10/09:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonkemp/3430528390/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonkemp/3431896433/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonkemp/3431852723/in/photostream/

 

[Jennifer Palmer]

I'm going to be participating in a large search and rescue competition in the middle of June. I have been talking to a few local folks there that told me because of the mountains most storms are diverted around the city. Do we have any members that live in the area that can confirm or debunk this?

I'll be watching from now till June but I wanted to tap chasers familiar with the area.

Scottsboro is a great area for storms!

I live in the Chattanooga area, and yes.. as the storms approach Chattanooga it seems that the storms hit the mountains and weaken quite a bit. But Jackson/Dekalb county is our local hotbed for storms. You aren't too far from Huntsville there either, and good ole Madison county has had its fair share of weather!

Enjoy the area! It's beautiful, if I do say so myself!

Oh.. I found something else for you! The Alabama Tornado Database!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=tornadodb_main

 

[Rich Long]

Thank you all so much. I had a feeling they were full of it hence the reason I thought I'd ask. I'm tasked with providing weather info and early warning for this competition and since there wil be a couple hundred people comming between staff competitors and the public I want to be very very sure

David Nadler and I have already started to coordinate some for the event (and he's planning to come over and see us during the event) so I feel good so far.