Squall Line Approaching Southwest Alabama

We’ve got our first convective severe weather warning this afternoon for Alabama: a severe thunderstorm warning for Mobile County.

Severe thunderstorm warnings are lined up for the adjacent Mississippi Counties from Alabama’s Chocktaw and Washington counties southward to Mobile.

A tornado warning continues for Jackson County, MS, which is the county that includes Pascagoula, just west of Mobile.

These warnings will accompany our squall line into Alabama over the next hour. The line of strong storms extends from just south of Meridian to Pascagoula at this time. It is moving east at 30-35 mph.

A tornado watch is in effect for Southwest Alabama and Southern Mississippi. Not much in the way of instability, even onshore as the squall line is sort of outrunning the warm front. But lots of spin in the atmosphere, and there will continue to be a tornado threat across Southwest Alabama this evening. The SPC says they will move the tornado watch further in Southwest Alabama later.

Moderate rain and some elevated storms will be entering Sumter and Pickens Counties shortly. A thin line of strong convection is about 60 miles west of the Alabama border and will affect Pickens, Sumter and Greene Counties around 6 p.m., working its way westward at 30-35 mph. It will be accompanied by some of the strongest winds as the convection taps the strong upper level winds.

We have a deepening surface low over western Arkansas. At Russellville, AR, the pressure is down to 989.5 mb, the lowest I could find, so the central pressure in the low is down around 988 mb. That’s 29.18 inches.

Technically, the slight risk extends as far north as a line from Tuscaloosa to Jemison to Dadeville, but the main problem will be the regular winds, and everyone will experience those.

Our winds will increase a bit more as the low deepens and moves north northeast. We will see winds this evening averaging 30 mph and gusting at times to 50 mph. That will be strong enough to bring down a few tree limbs and even trees tonight. Power outages could be a problem.

Wind advisories are in effect. Over the Tennessee Valley it is a high wind warning.

Don’t worry kids. Santa has the latest in advanced equipment that can help him fly through any weather, including the strong winds. Track his travels overnight with NORAD. His next reported stop is Rome.

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