Atmospheric Angst

It is that time of year again - the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico would like to come back and take it’s place over the the southeastern states, but the cooler dry air in place over the northern states keeps trying to push it back. Seems this goes on every spring, and we get used to  seeing the angry skies during these battles. Yesterday we had an interesting combination of circumstances that provided a lot of excitement in the form of strong winds and plentiful hail. This piece of radar was grabbed mid-afternoon showing the line of angry sky across Tennessee and north Alabama. Through the day as this line moved further east, the tail extended further south and included central Alabama and Georgia. The day before it was sweeping across Arkansas.

Here are the preliminary event reports collected by the NWS :
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/090410_rpts.html
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/090409_rpts.html

These snips from the NOAA report maps, summarize these two days.

Here is a link to the preliminary report from the Huntsville NWS office:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun/stormsurveys/stormreports_new.php?yr=2009&mo=04&dy=10

A great many of these reports are fielded by ham radio operators, and relayed in near-real-time by SKYWARN radio networks to the NWS field offices. These reports provide valuable ground-confirmation of circumstances in specific locations as well as damage reports for further follow-up investigations. The NWS SKYWARN program provides training for these spotters and is genuinely appreciative of these efforts. We are fortunate in this area to have a strong committment to this program by so many capable and qualified volunteers.

One more piece of radar, this one showing just how many simultaneous tornado WARNING boxes were popping up along this front… this image from lunchtime Friday 10 Apr, 2009 …

And finally, a link to an informative site with very comprehensive insight into our local weather :

NSSTC Collaborative Weather Blog

OK everyone - enjoy watching the weather, but stay safe, and thanks   /;^)