PDS Watch Issued for Midwest

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The first salvo has been fired in what will be a long day of active weather from the Great Lakes through the Ohio Valley and into the Deep South.

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) enhanced tornado watch from Missouri to Lower Michigan, including such population centers as Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and St. Louis. You can see it in the larger window of the graphic with the visible satellite, radar and observations superimposed.

The discussion from the watch:

DISCUSSION…ONE OR MORE BROKEN BANDS OF SUPERCELLS ARE EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP THIS MORNING AND RAPIDLY SPREAD EAST/NORTHEAST ACROSS THE
WATCH AREA TODAY. GIVEN THE COMBINATION OF MODERATE INSTABILITY AND
VERY STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR…CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR LONG
TRACKED…SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES. LARGE HAIL AND CORRIDORS OF WIND
DAMAGE WILL ALSO BE LIKELY.

A large area of eastern Illinois, almost all of Indiana into western Ohio and southern Lower Michigan has a 30% probability of seeing a tornado within 25 miles of any point.

You can see the very strong winds up at 18,000 feet about to move over that area in the top left panel of the graphic.

60F degree dewpoints are now as far north as Chicago. You can see the brighter greens indicating the richer moisture that has been pulled northward by the system. The lower left hand image in the graphic also shows the rapidly deepening low north of Kansas City.

Scroll down for James’ morning update on the severe weather potential for Alabama and Brian’s morning forecast video and discussion. And right below, read a story about a tornado episode from 1957 that serves as a reminder of how mean the secondary tornado season can be in our state.

Category: Alabama's Weather