Intense line of storms

Intense lightning, torrential rainfall, and a sudden gust of wind, in some places maybe as high as 60 mph. Power out in some areas, with some trees down. It was a little scary for a lot of people to wake from bed with sirens blowing and the sound of a 50 mph wind, I understand. But, no tornado occurred.

NWS has gone ahead with a severe thunderstorm warning for counties farther east, from Calhoun to Chilton. It looks like the storm may have produced a slight bow echo as it came through BHM. This is when strong winds in an area behind the squall line push that part of the line out ahead of the other storms. This is often accompanied by high winds. Radar from a little earlier…

The shear associated with these features can sometimes make the radar think there is rotation. It may have even produced a false TVS alarm, I don’t know. Radar computer algorithms are not perfect. If you were sitting at NWS and a TVS alerted you for Jefferson County in the middle of the night, just 3 weeks after Super Tuesday and a week after Prattville, what would you do? I’m not saying there wasn’t any rotation, but the NWS quickly cancelled the Tornado Warning, after only 15 minutes.

So, for those posting comments, no need to get upset about TV coverage. We were not under a tornado watch, the storms were linear, there had been no confirmed reports of tornadoes within 200 miles tonight, and there was no tornado. A squall line with 50 mph winds is scary and can do damage. I think that tornado warning surprised everyone who was up watching the weather…it surprised me.

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