Strong Storms Approaching Northwest Alabama

Storms have been slowly percolating over western Tennessee and northern Mississippi this afternoon.

They are lined up now from the southeastern suburbs of Memphis to Holly Springs to New Albany to north of Fulton in Itawamba County.

The strongest storm is the lead storm. It is a severe thunderstorm warned cell. It is putting down about 30 lightning flashes per minute. The instability is moderately high at about 2100 joules. The storms are riding along the northern edge of a strong mid-level flow and higher instability. There is almost no low level helicity, so the tornado threat is nearly zero, but is capable of producing high winds and hail. Hail is up to about 1 inch now. It will be moving into Marion County before 5 p.m.

These storms are training over the same areas and flooding is going to be a problem. The NWS in Memphis just issued a large flash flood warning for most of its Metro area down to near Byhalia along I-22.

Ahead of these storms,. a strong storm is already in northern Lamar County between Detroit and Hamilton. It is intensifying and has a little more instability and shear to work with so expect that intensification to continue.

Other storms are over eastern Mississippi near Houston and south of Aberdeen. These storms will be affecting southern Lamar and Pickens Counties in Alabama. These storms are also rooted in deeper instability and shear and they will become severe. As a matter of fact, a large severe thunderstorm warning was just issued for much on Monroe County, including Amory and Aberdeen.

The threat for severe weather including large hail and damaging winds across North and Central Alabama will extend through 10 p.m. tonight. Be alert if these storms approach your area.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Severe Weather